By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
After more than four decades caring for many Glaswegians’ “second biggest purchases,” Witty’s Auto Repair Shop is shutting its doors.
Forty-five years ago Hascal Witty, after selling his nearby Ashland service station to Edmonton State Bank, decided to build a muffler and alignment shop along Rogers Road in Glasgow.
At that time, Marita Witty Lile, Hascal’s daughter who began working for the family shop in 1979, said Rogers Road wasn’t in a busy area. The shopping center had yet to be built. There were no restaurants that now speckle that section of L. Rogers Wells Boulevard, and most of the hustle-and-bustle of Glasgow was focused on Happy Valley Road.
“You could look out [the window] and there was nothing,” Lile said. “I remember when they built this shopping center and the Autozone and the Mexican restaurant and all that. It is crazy how this has grown.”
Nevertheless, even as the landscape changed and developed, Witty’s remained; working through the motions of every day.
On Sept. 12, 2024, in a “bittersweet” announcement on social media, Lile informed the public of her decision to close the auto shop. She thanked her daughter, her employees and, most importantly, her customers. She stated she was looking forward to her retirement and all the “little things” of life like picking up her grandchildren from school and volunteering at the soup kitchen or her church’s food pantry.
She has greatly enjoyed the work, she said, and all that has come with it — good and bad.
“I could write a book of all the fun times we’ve had up here [and] all the bad times we’ve had up here,” Lile said.
Lile said she will retire after she sees that all her customers are acclimated at Best One Tires, located on West Main Street.
“I’m shooting all my customers…to Best One [Tires]; most of my guys and my daughter went there,” Lile said. “And once they get settled there then I’m going to start backing away.”
“My customers mean the world to me,” she added. “I’ve had customers that have been with me since the beginning, and even the ones that haven’t have become really good friends and I don’t want to just leave them.”
Edmonton State Bank has purchased the property, Lile said, with the intention of erecting a new building in its place.
Though it is “bittersweet,” she is excited to begin her new chapter and is happy with the service Witty’s provided to the area for more than four decades.
“[We had] many good times on this hill,” Lile said. “It’s been a good ride.”
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