Hamid Miri said his sole job is to serve his Westlake-area customers.
“That’s why we are here,” he said, sitting in the lounge of Westlake Auto Care. He has run the garage and gas station at 98 Redbud Trail and the adjacent grocery store, Westlake Market, at 96 Redbud Trail, since 1991, when he began leasing from Roy Kovar, who owned several other gas stations around the Westlake area.
Miri said he stumbled upon Westlake Market more than 30 years ago while driving around the neighborhood. He said he noticed a “For lease” sign in front of the grocery store and stopped by Westlake Auto Care next door to inquire about the property.
“I called Roy [Kovar], we talked for maybe 30 or 45 minutes, and then he shook my hand and said, ‘The store is yours,’” he said.
In 2006, Miri purchased the two businesses from Kovar and began leasing the grocery store while continuing to run Westlake Auto Care on his own.
The full-service auto shop and four-pump gas station offers services from oil changes to vehicle inspections.
Miri said his ongoing goal with the businesses, located at the intersection of Westlake Drive and Redbud Trail, is to provide excellent customer service to the people he has worked with and lived alongside for 30 years.
He said he often gives customers rides home while their cars are in the shop or returns customers’ cars to them at their homes—taking extra measures to provide good client services.
His customers—some of whom he has known since they were children—are like family to him, so he does not think twice about helping them, he said.
“That’s what you want as a business owner—you make [customers] happy,” he said.
The native of Iran moved to the U.S. in 1979 to study construction and eventually moved to the Westlake area.
Mehdi Ali, the newest tenant to lease Westlake Market from Miri, has run the business since 2011 and said he loved having Miri as a landlord.
“He’s a very honest and hardworking guy,” Ali said.
Gary Fegley, who has been servicing his car at Westlake Auto Care since he moved to the area 21 years ago, praised Miri and his three full-time employees.
“They do good work,” he said of Westlake Auto Care. “I’ve never had a problem, and they are convenient.”
Miri is looking now to the future, having recently told West Lake Hills City Council he plans to renovate the auto shop with a new canopy and new fuel pumps, upgrade the garage doors and parking lot and remodel the bathrooms in the coming months.
96 Redbud Trail (Westlake Market), 98 Redbud Trail (Westlake Auto Care) Redbud Trail, West Lake Hills 512-327-0262 (auto care), 512-328-0463 (market) Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (auto care), Mon.-Sat. 7 a.m.-10 p.m, Sun. 9 a.m.-9 p.m. (market)
