Celebrating 45 years of community and commitment
For 45 years, Denis and Mary Ann Wickham have owned and operated a Meineke shop in New London, Connecticut, that is rooted in family, community, and service.
When Chris Wickham was 12 years old, her parents – Denis and Mary Ann – opened their first Meineke shop in New London, Connecticut.
“I was in 8th grade,” she recalled. “Back then, everything was paper based. Nearly every Saturday, I’d go to the shop and refile the bend cards that were used that week. I think my dad paid me 50 cents.”
Bend cards were used when cutting, marking, and bending straight pipes to fit a specific model of car. Once computers came along, the Wickhams could print the bend card, and today, they mostly buy pre-bent pipe, and the benders are hardly used. That’s only one example of the many things that have changed since the Wickhams opened the shop in 1979.
But some things have remained the same, such as the family’s dedication to serving the New London community. That commitment has helped them maintain and grow their business, which celebrates 45 years in October.
Overcoming challenges
According to Denis, there were challenges early on: “Business was slow. At the time, we only did mufflers, pipes, and shocks, so I mostly only used part-time help.”
The shop was also surrounded by competitor shops, including a Speedy Muffler King, Midas, and two Superior Muffler shops. But more than four decades later, Meineke is the only one that remains.
“The Speedy Muffler King is now an AT&T store, and I now own the former Midas shop location. There are no Superior Muffler shops left in the area,” Denis said. “You could say that I’m the last man standing.”
Part of what’s kept the shop around is the Wickham's family ability to adapt. This happened early on when Denis realized they needed to change their advertising strategy to bring in more business. By the third year of business, the shop was featured in the yellow pages and had a few television spots. They were starting to grow a loyal customer base.
With more customers, Denis and Mary Ann decided to expand. In the late 1980s, they opened shops in Groton and Norwich. However, the timing of these store openings made the first few years of business challenging.
“When we opened in 1988 and 89, it was just in time to catch the recession,” Denis recalled. “Around the same time, General Dynamics Electric Boat division, the largest employer in southeastern Connecticut, went on strike. 26,000 employees and all the ancillary businesses that supported them closed, too.”
It took a couple of years to recover, but Denis and Mary Ann stuck with it and business began to improve. With three shops, they took a “divide and conquer” approach: Denis ran one store; Mary Ann ran another; and they hired Mark Winslow, who eventually became a partner in business, to run the third.
Staying ahead of the curve
Like the bend cards, everything at the shop was handwritten when Denis and Mary Ann first opened the shop.
This made for long days for the Wickhams.
“All the paperwork had to be done by hand,” recalled Denis. “When the shop closed, we had to cost out every ticket, do a daily report, update the inventory, file the bend cards, and get everything ready for the next day. I never got home before seven.”
For the first several years, Mary Ann primarily focused on bookkeeping and accounting work for the New London location. But by the time the third shop opened in 1989, she was also running a shop on a regular basis. She stayed on the lookout for ways to improve and saw an opportunity as technology began to advance.
“We were early adopters of computers,” she said. “In the early 90s, we moved our accounting systems to computers. By 1995, we had a precursor to the VAST program we still use today.” Their daughter Chris saw an opportunity for them to take technology up a notch. In 2023, she retired from the corporate world and brought her IT skills and knowledge back home.
Today, she supports her parents by helping with the IT and office management, including updating their systems.
“Computers are great tools,” Chris said. “We just needed to make some changes to increase the shop’s flexibility and security.”
Giving back for 45 years
Throughout every challenge and hurdle thrown their way, supporting the community has remained a cornerstone of how the Wickhams do business.
“There are certain things that we did that reaped great benefits, like sponsoring youth teams and hosting car maintenance workshops for Girl Scout Troops,” Denis said. “That gave us a lot of recognition in the community.”
Within the New London community, there's a certain group of people that they have always supported – veterans.
“My dad’s a veteran.” Chris explained. “Many of our employees are veterans. We try to do as much as we can for active-duty military and veterans to show our support, like offering discounted oil changes on Veterans Day.”
Part of the Meineke family
But it’s more than just the New London area. Denis and Mary Ann have been active participants in the Meineke community as well. Mary Ann served as the assistant treasurer and then treasurer of the Meineke Dealer Association (MDA) from the late 1990s through 2008.
Over the years, Denis represented New England on the regional councils, national councils, and the MDA, serving as chairman of the advertising and product committees. He was also a founding member of the Meineke Dealers Purchasing Cooperative, Inc (MDPCI), and President of the MDPCI for 10 years. Denis mentored many franchisees over the years as well and helped them get their businesses off the ground.
Recently, Chris attended a Meineke convention with her parents, and she was blown away by the warm reception they received from attendees.
“Mom and I were just walking down the hall and people would come running out to give her a hug because everyone knows her and loves her,” recalled Chris. “With either one of them, it was like being with the Mayor.”
This spirit and commitment to the service has kept business going strong for 45 years. Today, Denis and Mary Ann, in their early 80s, still maintain a strong presence in the shops and community and are committed to keeping things ‘in the family.’
“This is a family-oriented business,” said Chris. “Kids and grandkids, including my own daughter, have had their first jobs working the front desk. People respect my parents and want to work for them because of how long they’ve been here and how they are still engaged with everyone from customers to employees.”
To celebrate the monumental 45 year milestone, there’s only one the Wickhams want to celebrate - with the community.
For more information about upcoming celebrations, follow the New London store on Facebook.