Customers, staff sorry to see longtime auto shop close its doors

Steve Thompson, longtime owner of Hilltop Service in Puyallup, never expected to have a career in the auto repair business, but as luck would have it that is exactly the way things turned out.

After 38 years in business, Thompson closed the doors of Hilltop Service on Oct. 31.

“It was sadness and relief,” he said. “I am going to miss the daily interaction with my customers and employees, but on the other hand, it is a relief that I can finally relax, play some golf and spend time with my wife.”

Thompson, 68, wanted to keep the doors open until the end of the year, but some health issues pushed him to close the business a bit earlier.

The closure ended a journey that started long ago with a 1950 Chevrolet, Thompson’s first car.

“My dad and I bought it, and when we got home he jacked it up in the air in an old garage and said, ‘I want you to pull the wheels and check the brakes and make sure they are safe,’” Thompson recalled.

With barely one semester of auto shop under his belt, Thompson was ill equipped for the job.

He spent the day under the car in the dark garage with a little light and thought to himself, “I better start studying and apply myself because I don’t want to be doing this for the rest of my life.”

Turned out working in auto shops was right up his alley.

Years later, 1965 found him working in an auto shop on 19th and K in Tacoma. That job was followed by a stint in the Navy, and after his discharge Thompson picked up right where he left off.

Leasing his first service station in 1972 on 17th and Pioneer in Puyallup, Thompson moved from there to lease a station on 9th and Main from 1976 to 1978. In 1978 he bought Hilltop Service, 3002 S Meridian, from Henry (Hank) Alfen, who had owned and operated the business since 1957.

Thompson took over Hilltop Service on April 1, 1978. When he bought Hilltop, some of his customers from downtown Puyallup said they would like to follow him to his new location, but thought that 30th and Meridian was too far out in the country.

Today, those customers are sad to see him go.

Nancy Babauta and her family were Hilltop customers for 21 years.

“I’m not quite sure how we found out about Hilltop but when we did, we just never went anyplace else,” she said, crediting Thompson’s personal service as key to their success. “If I needed a brake light fixed, Steve would come out to my car and fix it. I felt I could recommend Hilltop — they were my car guys.”

Ray Fradette agrees.

“We moved out here in 2002 from a small town in California where I had a very reputable mechanic, and all of a sudden I felt I was here in a big city,” Fradette said. “I didn’t expect to find somebody like Steve in a larger metropolitan area who really cared for his customers.”

“The guys and the mechanics were all so honest that I sent a lot of business to him and everyone I sent to him thanked me,” he said.

Thompson was a great boss as well. Jay Lindstrom worked for Thompson for 28 years.

“I was working in my brother’s body shop and we painted one of Steve’s trucks. That was how I met him,” he said. “Steve turned me into a mechanic.”

“It is still sad,” said Lindstrom, referring to the closure of the longtime business. “I’m going to miss going there every morning.”

Thompson said he enjoyed people and had an ability to diagnose and repair at a fair price.

“We were honest and I kept most of my customers for my whole career,” he said. “I knew the value of a dollar and knew my customers didn’t have all that much money, so we tried to list the things that needed to be done and start with the most serious ones.”

They were more than just customers, Thompson said. They were friends.

Thompson and his wife, Jewel, live in Ocean Shores and says he plans to play a lot more golf, enjoy his hobby of photography and go beachcombing.

“Because of my customer service, I always slept well,” Thompson said. “I didn’t have to dodge people in the grocery store because I was always comfortable with the work we did and so instead I saw those encounters as an opportunity to say ‘hi’ to a friend.”

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Customers, staff sorry to see longtime auto shop close its doors."