Ryne Myers and family opens Ryno Repair in BE
Vehicle repair business is located in the former Hanson Auto building
When Ryne Myers began looking into the possibility of opening his own auto repair business, his original thoughts were to find an available lot and build a small facility to get started.
“All of the options I found would have come with a hefty price tag,” Ryne says. “And that was just buying the lot and a building. It did not include purchasing any of the equipment which would be necessary to operate the business.”
But, as fate would have it, Terry Hanson, who operated Hanson Auto Repair on the corner of U.S. Highway 169 and Seventh Street, decided to sell his facility.
So Ryne, along with his wife Morgan, made the decision to purchase the building site from Hanson along with much of the equipment that was in the building. After finalizing the purchase, they opened Ryno Repair in early June.
“I purchased some newer diagnostic equipment and some other smaller items but the shop came with five hoists, an alignment machine and equipment to work on tires,” Ryne comments. “I am not ready to offer wheel alignment or tire services at this time, but it is something I would like to offer to my customers sometime in the future.”
Owning his own auto repair shop had not been a lifelong dream for Ryne, who has 13 years of experience as an auto mechanic.
“Truthfully, when I graduated from Blue Earth Area in 2010, I did not really know what I wanted to do,” Ryne admits.
“It was my older brother, Blake Anderson, who got Ryne into working on automobiles,” Morgan explains. “My brother was building street-legal drag cars and got Ryne involved in helping work on the cars. It took off from there.”
Ryne took off a year after graduating from BEA before enrolling at South Central Technical College in Mankato.
“I took their automotive technical service program and graduated in the spring of 2013.”
Meanwhile, halfway through completing his college course, Ryne was hired to work at Lagers, a Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram dealer, in St. Peter.
“I worked there for about four and a half years until November of 2016,” Ryne notes.
That was when the couple decided to make some changes.
“We wanted to move back to the Blue Earth area so we could be closer to family,” Morgan, a 2011 graduate of BEA, mentions. “Things kind of fell in place to make that happen.”
Paul Kafka had just purchased Jay’s Auto Repair from Jay Johnson and had an opening for a mechanic.
“So I began working at Jay’s on Nov. 28, 2016,” Ryne says. “I worked there until May 24 of this year.”
Ryne shares there is a difference working for a dealer versus working for an independent repair shop.
“Working for a dealer is very impersonal. You have no interaction with the customers. The work is more repetitious,” he notes. “At an independent shop you get to know the customers and interact with them. You associate a customer with their vehicle and it is much more enjoyable in my opinion.”
Ryne considers owning his own business the next step in his working career.
“Even though I did not know I wanted to be an auto mechanic when I was in high school, once I had started working in the repair business owning my own facility became something I wanted to accomplish,” he comments. “I am just thankful this opportunity came along.”
Morgan will play an important part in the business as the office manager.
“I will do the majority of the scheduling,” Morgan confirms. “I will also handle the bookwork for the business.”
Ryne feels scheduling is very important to help keep his customers satisfied.
“People do not want to leave their car at a repair shop and have it sit around not being worked on,” he says. “So, we want to schedule the customer’s vehicle for repair and then get it in, fix it, and get it back to the owners.”
Ryne states he will work on all makes and models of cars and pickups.
“I work on engines, transmissions, the suspension and maintenance items,” he notes. “I will also do oil changes and lube services. We do not plan on getting into used car sales but will offer consignment sales for people looking to sell their vehicle.”
While Ryne and Morgan are just beginning their business adventure at 112 South Grove Street, they are aware of a long history of auto-related businesses which have occupied the space they now call Ryno Repair.
“I guess there was once a Studebaker dealer here,” Ryne says. “And Hi-Way Ford operated here for a long time. In fact, Tom Miller, who I believe was one of the owners of Hi-Way Ford, is going to try and get some historical pictures of when the Ford dealership was located here. The original building turns 100 years old next year and we thought it would be neat to have a display of the building and its businesses through the years.”
Ryne and Morgan share they have some other plans in the works for their property.
“We have a section of the building we are not using,” Ryne says. “We plan on renting that out for people who need winter storage.”
And they have plans for the open lot that sits to the south of their business.
“We want to plant some grass, put out some picnic tables and make it a community-friendly space for people who come to get food from the food trucks that operate there from time to time,” Morgan adds. “Right now, ‘The Lemon’ and ‘Kris Tacos’ are the two food trucks that utilize that space.”
Morgan says that Granada Gardens will also begin operating a food stand in the empty lot beginning sometime during the first week of July.
The spacious office building also provides a place for Morgan to home school the couple’s three children.
“Mavrik is 13 and helps keep the shop clean and provides Ryne with another set of hands when necessary,” Morgan says. “Our oldest daughter, Devyn, is eight years old and our youngest daughter, Ravyn, is five years old.”
Ryne says the biggest challenge in the auto repair business is keeping up with the constant changes occurring in the industry.
“But, as long as it has wheels, I will fix it,” he concludes.