By Myles Ma
Richard Peterson was 42 when he decided to take over the Shell gasoline and service station on the corner of Lakeside Boulevard and South Broad Street.
His friends thought he was crazy. Peterson had no experience in auto repair and didn’t know the first thing about running a gas station.
“When I walked on to this property, I didn’t know how to pump that gas,” he said.
It was a drastic move. Until then, he had been a corporate man, serving as an executive at Winan’s Reliance Paper Company.
But he wanted a change. He was tired of the corporate life and the constant traveling.
So in 1982, Peterson returned to Hamilton, where grew up and went to school as a member of Steinert’s first graduating class in 1959. And he bought a Shell station.
There was certainly an adjustment period. Peterson said the first two years were difficult, but 27 years later, he’s proud of what he’s accomplished. When he started, he had two employees, including Chris Ingendbrandt, who is now shop manager. Now Lakeside Auto Service employees 28 people.
“I have fun,” Peterson said. “I enjoy coming down here.”
Lakeside Auto mainly serves the area within two or three miles of the station, but Peterson has customers from across Mercer County. Peterson has developed close relationships with his neighborhood customers, and even gives people rides to and from the station while their cars are being serviced.
The station also tows customers’ cars if they break down, with no charge aside from the repair costs. Peterson said that old-school service sets his station apart.
“It’s a station that’s really a throwback to 40 or 50 years ago,” he said.
Lakeside Auto provides a 24/7 towing service through AAA. Peterson said Lakeside is the biggest AAA provider in Mercer County.
He said Lakeside sells and installs batteries in roadside emergencies.
Peterson said the station has won several awards from Shell for its service. Peterson focuses on the little things.
The front of the gas station features a landscaped garden, complete with a fountain. Even the restrooms are clean.
The stereotype for gas station bathrooms is that they are putrid, vermin-filled cesspools, but Peterson said a woman from South Dakota had stopped at the station to use the bathroom, and proclaimed to all her friends in the car that it was actually clean.
Part of Peterson’s management style, a vestige of his corporate background, is that he delegates everything to his employees.
“They have to make decisions to work for me,” Peterson said.
Peterson attributed his success to his employees.
“The employees here is what makes this business work,” he said. “They all care. And in this day and age, that’s important.”
For more information, call (609) 585-9525.
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