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Total Auto Parts and Paint moves from Woodbridge to Dumfries
First, flood waters ruined his Woodbridge auto parts store. Then, years later after it had been restored and reopened for business, the state came and tore it down.
Resilient, Total Auto Parts and Paint has moved to Dumfries and continues to calls the stretch of U.S. 1 in Prince William County home, as it has for the past 30 years. But it hasn’t been easy.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee in September 2011 flooded out the former location of Total Auto Parts and Paint on U.S. 1 in Woodbridge, near Marumsco Plaza. It also took a toll on a nearby mobile home park, sending at least 300 to a Red Cross Shelter and leaving many homeless.
After a day of solid rain, employees left the store and when they did they saw the Marumsco Creek rising out of its banks.
The creek down the street from us, it was coming up. I didn’t think much of it,” said Rick Jones, owner of Total Auto Parts and Paint. “I went and looked out the window and [the water] was coming in, and before I knew it was like looking like a fish tank on our window.”
The water rose four feet that day, inundating the shop, ruining several computers and destroying $200,000 of merchandise. And, as quickly as the water rose, it was gone the next day leaving behind mud caked all over the floors.
It took three weeks to clean up the store. The stores three employees helped with the clean up, even though one slipped on the mud and broke his leg. None of the employees were laid off during the clean up.
“It just about killed me, it was tough. We’re working but we didn’t have any business coming in,” recalled Jones.
He took cash from his personal savings account to keep employees paid during the down time. The store later reopened and things were looking like they were going to turn around – until Jones’ store was marked for destruction due to the impending widening of U.S. 1 in the area.
With the reality of losing his store again staring him in the face, Jones thought about throwing in the towel. “I work 12 hours a day and you don’t get to where I am today just by giving up,” he said.
The new Total Auto Parts and Paint at 17297 Jefferson Davis Highway in Dumfries is coming along and gaining customers both new and old. The store carries a wide selection of parts but mostly specializes in auto paint. Customers, those who are painting their own cars and professional auto body shops, rely on Total Auto Parts to conveniently mix them a can of their perfect paint color.
Jones says he likes being in Dumfries, that its been easy to work with the town’s government to get things like permits, and that even the town’s mayor has come in to buy paint from him. He hopes more of his old customers who visited him in Woodbridge will soon find him in Dumfries.
For more information, click here for Total Auto Parts.
