Grease Monkey recently opened its new location at 13023 W. 14th Ave., in what was once the J&J Lube Station.
Airway Heights residents or travelers who frequently drive along Highway 2 near 14th Avenue may have noticed the change in recent months. What used to be J&J Lube Station, at 13023 W. 14th Ave., is now a Grease Monkey Oil Change station.
According to its website, Grease Monkey is the country's largest independent franchisor of automotive fast lube centers, serving more than 2 million customers each year. The company, founded in 1978, has more than 290 centers operating in the United States, Latin America and China. Grease Monkey bought out J&J Lube from owner Jerry Newcomb in 2014, who opened the lube station back in 1997.
Although the outside of the building is different, including a new coat of orange paint, customers who step inside may notice a two television monitors describing the different services the store provides, a plush monkey on the counter and a few familiar faces.
One of those is Danny Morris, who ran J&J's station for 10 years, is currently the assistant manager for the shop and will soon become the shop's manager. Morris, who is from Amarillo, Texas, has been in the automotive industry for 32 years.
"I was 16 years old, when I started working in a shop for General Motors," Morris said. "I walked in and they put me with a 50-year-old man. He gave me a tool box and said 'son, you're going to be a mechanic.'"
Morris moved to Spokane 12 years ago and ran a couple of shops before he started working for Newcomb. He was the first employee Grease Monkey hired for the Airway Heights station and said the transition from J&Js to the Grease Monkey was a "real smooth" one.
"Grease Monkeys tries to make the transition as smooth as possible when they buy out other stores," Mike Murri, who has worked for Grease Monkey for six years, said. "We train the crew to learn how to use the services and help them out at the beginning."
Morris and his crew, most of whom worked with him at J&J Lube, trained at the Spokane Grease Monkey while the franchise was remodeling the Airway Heights location.
Morris said being under the Grease Monkey banner allows his shop to provide new services to customers, including fuel cleaning, flushing and headlight restoration.
"There's not much we can't do," Morris said. "If it's something I can tackle and not spend all day on, I can do it."
Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].
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