Out of gas, out of time
For years, Cathedral Automotive filled up and fixed cars downtown.
By Jodie Tillman, Times Staff Writer
Published February 10, 2008
NEW PORT RICHEY - The shoemaker left. So did the television repair shop, the boarding house and the Western Union.
But somehow the mom-and-pop full-service filling station, that almost quaint icon of less hurried times, held on in downtown New Port Richey.
Until now.
After 30 years in business, John Herig has put his Main Street gas station and garage up for sale. He's continuing to do repair work until the property sells, though he turned off the pumps about six months ago.
At 65, he's had enough.
"At my age, and the way business is slowly closing itself down," said Herig, "it's time."
Herig's business is about as old as he is; he bought the station - then called Circle Service - in 1977 from a couple who had run it since the 1940s. He renamed it Cathedral Automotive Repair Services.
A New York native, he had been running a small garage on State Road 54 when a customer told him the spare, concrete block downtown station was for sale. It was the perfect location at the time.
This was when the downtown was home to a grocery store, bakeries, a feed-and-seed and a large engineering firm. Stopping to fill up on the way out was natural.
When Herig bought the business, he got one full-service pump with three grades. He added a second pump and, about 10 years ago, added a self-service.
Still, no one ever paid at these pumps. Nor did anyone ever get out to grab an US Weekly, a jumbo soda or a piece of shiny pepperoni pizza rotating in a clear case.
Customers simply pulled up, got their tank filled and their tires and fluids checked and their windshield wiped.
"We did it right," said Herig.
Inside, the station is as spare as ever. No snacks, though Herig did add a Coke machine. There is a yellow "Maps" holder, an old photograph of the furniture store that preceded the gas station. The business cards have grease smudges, and the lopsided, faded green window blinds look like something out of film noir.
"We give it a fresh coat of paint every four or five years," he said of the decor.
Herig bought gas through Texaco until about six years ago when the company pulled out of the deal. He found an independent distributor out of Georgia and sold gas under the "Mystik" name.
But the repair work subsidized the operation. Gas was a losing venture, and for the past three years, the business lost money.
Simply put, Herig could not compete with bigger gas stations. His prices were always higher. Plus, few people today want full service stations. They want to get in easily, pay at the pump and leave.
When he turned off the pumps six months ago, the going rate was more than $2.80 a gallon, not that different from what other stations were charging.
"This type of business is changing," said Herig. "The big corporations have siphoned off a lot of business."
Herig, who lives in New Port Richey, is married to Carolyn, who is also retired. With neither of their children interested in taking over the business - their son is a teacher, their daughter a school administrator - closing shop seemed an obvious decision.
Asking price on the property: $550,000.
Herig figures no one would buy it as a gas station. But there could be a lot of interest in the property because of its prime location at Main and Grand.
Indeed, the group that had wanted to redevelop the city-owned First Baptist Church site at Orange Lake had approached Herig about buying the gas station as part of the project. That deal ultimately fell through.
"If somebody's getting involved in the revitalization of downtown," he said, "this is right in the middle of it."
In the meantime, Herig still has work to do. One recent afternoon, the day's work included repairing the front end of a not-so-modern car, a 1948 Buick.
Jodie Tillman can be reached at jtillman@sptimes.com or 727 869-6247.