WORTHINGTON — Longtime Worthington auto business Lopez Auto has seen an influx of activity after relocating from Oxford Street to its new location along U.S 59/Minnesota 60, on the south side of Worthington.
The business opened in the former Dyke’s Auto Salvage location at 27148 271st St., after the owner began leasing the building from Dyke’s in July.
Owner Robert Lopez said starting his own business wasn’t something he had originally planned on.
“I was only picking up unwanted cars since you make so much money out of that,” Lopez said. “A buddy of mine had a repair shop and when he moved out, I rented the place. I had people coming over asking for work and I‘d been a mechanic most of my life. I kind of just opened up the businesses to repair.”
We do all types of repairs, from minor to major.
Robert Lopez
Lopez Auto first opened in 2004 along Nobles County 5 before a 2010 fire forced the business to move to the Oxford Street location.
“That set us back quite a bit,” Lopez said of the fire. “I’ve just gotta keep going, gotta keep moving forward. Right now, I’d say we’re in a way better place than we were before the fire.”
He said the growth in activity has been noticeable in the new location.
“We’ve got two other guys here, so we probably go through maybe 10 or more cars a day depending on what it is that we’re doing,” Lopez said. “Some are faster than others. I’ve gotten more new customers moved over here. A lot of them, I get calls from or messages from online. A lot of the customers already knew where I was and that I’d moved over here.”
Lopez said the new location is optimal for his line of work and potentially offers room for future expansion.
“For what I do in my business, this property is what I need for the vehicles I go through instead of having them all piled up in the front of the business like they used to be,” he said. “(I’d also like to) expand my business into the towing industry. I do some already, but I don’t have the right crew right now or enough crew to get more units going. That’s one of my goals, is to get full-time towing 24 hours a day.”
Lopez said he prides himself and Lopez Auto on their extensive and punctual work.
“We do all types of repairs, from minor to major,” Lopez said. “I specialize a lot in replacing engines and transmissions. A lot of repair places don’t want to do that because it’s time consuming. They want something to get in and out faster.
“We also specialize in ACs and electrical, remote starts, alarms and then we also do electrical work, we do all kinds of stuff,” he added. “There’s a lot of people that just go by their appointment and they’ll only take so many people a day and that’s it. Whatever we could take in a day and help people that are struggling on the road or something, we jump on it.”
Lopez Auto is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.
Samuel Martin became a reporter for The Globe in September 2023. He has a bachelor’s degree in media studies from the University of Sioux Falls.
