Customers returning to the service shop on Allan Avenue will notice new branding, but they’ll be greeted by the same familiar faces.
The team at the shop formerly known as Kecks celebrated its grand opening Friday as Apex Pro Kwik Lube.
New owners Ellie and Brent Freerksen took over in January. Having installed a new floor, given the shop a new paint job and laid new asphalt on the parking lot, they’re ready to show off the business’ new look.
While they’ve changed a number of things since purchasing the shop from the Keck family, they kept possibly the most important part of the business — the staff.
“They’ve all been really, really great,” said Ellie Freerkesen. “I get compliments on how well they work together.”
While her husband primarily oversees their Dodge Center business Apex Pro Auto Care, Freerksen runs their newly acquired Owatonna shop. Though they share the same branding, the Dodge Center location offers a wide range of auto services while the Owatonna shop focuses on oil changes, tire rotations and inspections.
Taking over the shop has been a major career change for Freerksen, a therapist by trade. For all their obvious differences, she said both roles are fundamentally about navigating the emotions of others — whether they’re patients, employees or customers.
“I think there’s a lot in common. With mental health therapy, you have to deal with all kinds of different emotions, you have to deal with feelings,” she said. “It goes hand in hand, because you’re dealing with different people, different personalities.”
Having put therapy on the back burner, she’s enjoying this new chapter of her career.
As a manager, Freersksen said she emphasizes positivity, wanting customers to feel confident they’ll have a good experience from the moment they arrive. To that end, she’s implementing loyalty cards and a variety of discounts. In addition to first responder, military and senior citizen discounts, Apex Pro also offers an educator discount — something Freerksen said has been a pleasant surprise for a lot of customers.
“Somebody said to me, ‘Why are you giving so many discounts? You’re not making any money that way.’ I see it opposite, because I feel like that brings more people in and helps them think this place is somewhere I want to be, these people are going to treat me right,” said Freerksen.
Freerksen said she connected with the previous owners through their daughter Brianna Schrom, whose sons participate in wrestling and football with her son. The two families have joked about selling businesses back and forth for awhile, until last year when the Freerksens learned owners Brian and Jodi Keck were seriously interested in selling the business.
“They’ve been really helpful,” said Freerksen. “I think they’re awesome people.”
The Kecks participated in a Department of Human Services program that employs people with disabilities in the shop’s laundromat, another aspect of the business that Freerksen was happy to continue.
The Keck family continues to own and operate Keck’s Repair, located southwest of Owatonna near Lemond Township.
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