Auto Parts Store Owner Closes Shop
By Ja'Rena Lunsford, The Daily Oklahoman
Jan. 24–Altus Franks lightly tapped on the glass door of Solloway Auto Supply. Although the shop has been closed for a week, owner Marie Pryor did not hesitate to sell one last item to Franks.
“He’s one of my best customers,” said Pryor, who is retiring after more than 20 years in business. She said even though she closed her doors last week, she still gets four or five former customers tapping on her door.
“They all beg, ‘Please let me keep buying for as long as you’re in here.’”
Many of those latecomers are customers who made stopping at Solloway a routine.
Solloway Auto Supply, 1811 NE 23, began serving northeast Oklahoma City in 1934. The shop accumulated longtime customers and employees such as Pryor, who worked at the business for 20 years before purchasing it from Sol Solloway in 1984.
Pryor will sell the shop’s contents at a Jan. 31 auction at the store. The doors open at 8 a.m.
The smell of oil — an aroma Pryor has grown so use to — is still strong in the air. Oil-smudged bar stools sit in front of the counter.
“My customers have become like friends,” Pryor said, taking a seat on one of the stools. “They come in and sit on the stools, the way Mr. Franks just did.”
Her eyes began to water.
“I hate to lose my customers.”
And they hate to lose her, too.
“They say at the coffee shop and McDonald’s this is all they are talking about, me leaving,” Pryor said.
Franks, owner of Miles & Al’s Garage, 1116 NE 23, shopped at Solloway Auto Supply for more than 20 years and is not ready to shop anywhere else.
“I’m gonna really miss her,” he said of Pryor. “I guess I’m going to have to go over to O’Reilly.”
Although many of her customers now will shop the competitors, Pryor said she is thankful that so many of her friends came to her business for as long as they did.
Aside from the sporadic traffic, it’s hard to tell the auto shop is defunct. Car parts still line shelves, a candy machine filled with colorful sweets for 25 cents sits in a corner, accessories hang on pegs behind the register. Pryor has spent nearly two weeks counting everything for the auction.
“They tell me I have to count every piece,” she said.
Between the numbers, she recalls memories of her years at the shop, memories of her two children and husband working in the shop — and most importantly, memories of her former customers who became her friends.
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