BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Birmingham, Alabama-based Express Oil Change joined the North Florida Regional Chamber of Commerce for a ribbon-cutting on October 15 at the company’s 1198 S. Walnut Street location.
Regional Manager Shane Baldwin said the company launched in 1979 as a quick lube service.
“You sit in your car for 10 to 13 minutes,” he said. “Convenient service. We have always had mechanical service on the other side (of the building), and probably in the last seven to 10 years, we added tires.”
Baldwin said that with the mechanical service and tires, the company has evolved into a convenient one-stop shop.
“We emphasize speed,” he said. “A sense of urgency when the customer drives in. We all have jobs, and the last thing I want to do on my day off is to drop my car off for service.”
When asked why the company chose Starke as a location, the regional manager explained that the company began expanding into suburbs and smaller towns, where it found success competing against local mom-and-pop operations.
“Actually, we’ve done really well in some of the smaller towns,” he said. “I think the biggest difference is that the sense of urgency we promote is a lot different than the pace of some of the smaller towns. That’s led us to be pretty successful.”
Regional Director Will Michaux said that he is responsible for 52 stores from North Carolina to Florida. He added that each Express Oil Change has between eight and 12 employees, and that even though each location is part of a large organization, the company strives to maintain a family atmosphere.
“The cool thing is we don’t want just to come in and just take over,” he said. “We still have a family feel. So, when we come to a town, we want customers to have that family feel, too. We don’t want just to put big boxes everywhere. We want to have a family.”
Store Manager Josh Miles said he has an uncle who lives in Fleming Island and some cousins who live in the area. He joined Express Oil Change in 2012 in Macon, Georgia, and joined the management team in 2018. Since then, he has been opening stores and developing staff.
When asked what Starke customers are telling him about the new operation, Miles replied, “They like that there’s no waiting, no appointments, stuff like that. They’re in and they’re out. Time is money, so if we can save them time, we’ll save them money. They say we are a little bit more expensive than a couple of places around here, but the convenience factor and everything kind of evens out the cost.”
Miles also said that the warranties issued at the Starke store are good at any of the company’s other 376 locations.
Assistant Store Manager Judith Young-Salle grew up in Starke and Lake Butler and graduated from Union County High School in 2001. She said she has volunteered for Splash Bash and has gotten involved in other community and political projects.
Michaux echoed Miles’s description of Express Oil Change’s top-of-market positioning. He described the company as the Chick-fil-A of oil changes.
Express Oil Change operates as a division of Mavis Discount Tire, which is owned by Golden Gate Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity firm. Earlier this year, Mavis acquired the Midas automotive repair chain, bringing its store count to over 3,500 locations.
Michaux said the next nearby location for an Express Oil Change will be in Live Oak. He added that around six more locations are coming online in the Tampa Bay area soon.
