Kenny’s Central Tire and Auto Shop was established by owner Kenny Throckmorton in 2002, but the building has been a part of Louisa since the 1930s. Kenny’s Shop has an atmosphere that brings you back to Throckmorton’s start in the industry in the 1980s. The nostalgic decor, vintage music, and antique show cars bring out the classical feel to their business.
Throckmorton began working on a farm with his uncle who introduced him to the auto-mechanic industry. He started as an auto mechanic in 1979 at an establishment across the street from his current business. Throckmorton worked for 23 years as a mechanic before taking ownership of his own company, Kenny’s.
“When you start a business, you have many things to consider to make it work, and that was a challenge,” Throckmorton said. “You have to get the people’s trust to get business.”
Louisa impacted Kenny’s Shop by supporting him in his business start-up. Throckmorton kept his business open with the community’s support by providing good prices and service and being honest with customers.
“It’s friendly,” Throckmorton said. “People know me and have for a long time, and [the customers] trust us. I have a lot of loyal people that deal with me all the time. I have new customers that come in and are referred to me by the businesses around and they come in like clockwork.”
In the shop area where the cars are repaired and inspected, music played accompanied by air hissing, banging of hammers, and the crackling noise from a jack as a truck was lifted into the air. Much like Throckmorton, many mechanics of Kenny’s Shop have worked in the industry from a young age. The mechanics work to provide their best services by refining and building upon their skills.
“Mechanics have been in my family for years,” mechanic Eric Throckmorton said.“I have been working at Kenny’s for 3 years and the atmosphere is wonderful. Our shop impacts our community in many ways because we keep people safe while driving on the road.”
Customers new and old are welcomed into Kenny’s, where K. Throckmorton and his staff work towards customer satisfaction on a larger scale than just auto repairs. With there being other local auto-mechanic shops, K. Throckmorton has to rely on the reviews of his customers to keep business.
“You get new customers to come in, and we talk about where they used to live,” receptionist at Kenny’s, Theresa Chesire said. “It is just getting to know [new] people coming into the community, and people that lived here forever. We get our regular customers, but we get [others] from, word of mouth, where people are talking about our services.”
