Jiffy Lube Celebrates 40 Years in Salem
- Sean Carver
- 58 minutes ago
- 4 min read
By Jennifer Haley, The West Side Newspaper
This month, Jiffy Lube celebrates 40 years of being in business across Salem.
The locally-owned franchise opened its first location in Lancaster in 1986, and expanded into West Salem in 1993.
The anniversary celebration will take place on June 20. Customers can expect 40 percent off all services for that day.
Since Jiffy Lube’s doors first opened, owner Kurtis Kent, a West Salem resident, has been at the forefront of things. Born and raised on a ranch in Idaho, he grew up valuing two things equally: hard work and having fun. He remembers many mornings during the summer when his dad would announce that chores could wait – they were going fishing first.
“He’d say, ‘hey, the cattle can wait this morning to get fed. We’ll have a little fun first, then we’ll come back and go to work.’” Kurtis laughs at the memory. “That’s just how my dad was. He was a big influence on me, and so I try to live my life by him. ”
His older brother, Kelly, came to Salem just as the oil changing industry was getting started. He’d been in Utah prior, working as a real estate agent. When the opportunity came up to buy into a franchise, he didn’t hesitate.
“And I was fresh out of college,” Kurtis said. “So he asked me to come help him start it up. My plan was just to help him out for a little while, but then I fell in love with it. I love cars, and I loved what I was doing. So from there, we were able to expand other stores across Salem and into other states.”
Raised in a close-knit family, Kurtis and his brother wanted their Jiffy Lube business to be an extension of that. Several of his managers have been with the company for over 20 years. Back when his employees had young kids, Kurtis would rent out the Dallas Aquatic Center for a few hours so everyone could come out and swim and enjoy one another. One of his daughters is married to the Keizer store manager’s son. And now, Kurtis’s youngest son, who went to school for accounting and has been working at Jiffy Lube since he was 16, is learning the ropes.
The people are the best part of his job.
“Just getting to interact with everyone, and watching all my employees’ kids grow up. It’s great. That, and being your own boss,” he added with a chuckle. “That’s pretty cool, too.”
Kurtis met his wife on the job. She was working at the McDonald’s next door to the Keizer location, and they’d chatduring his lunch breaks. Thirty years later, the couple has three kids and five grandchildren.
“My dad always taught us that people come first,” Kurtis said. “And so our mission from day one has been to take care of the customers. We try to treat people like family. We try to have their backs, and that goes a long way.”
In the 40 years they’ve been in business, Kurtis said that keeping up with the ever-changing technology has been the biggest challenge to running the business.
“We went from handwritten receipts where we would fill out a form, and just checking boxes, to now, it’s all computerized.”
The business model changed, too, going from offering only oil changes to becoming a multi-center, multi-care center where people can come to get their brakes checked, have general engine maintenance done, exchange batteries out, and more.
Beyond the services they offer, Kurtis wants to make sure they honor members of the community.
On Veteran’s Day, members of the military and their families can come in for a free oil change. Jiffy Lube also just started a promotion to raise funds for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which provides mortgage-free homes to immediate family members of fallen U.S. military members, called Gold Star families, families of fallen first responders, and specially-adapted smart homes to catastrophically injured veterans.
“We gave out discount books that people could bring in, and we would donate a dollar for each service brought in by that book,” Kurtis said. “We’re hoping to raise one-hundred-and-fifty thousand, and I think we’re going to. So I’m pretty proud of that.”
Jiffy Lube also does a lot to support the paralyzed veterans, including sponsoring their annual car shows and golf tournaments.
“My dad was in the Army, he fought in the Korean War, so the military is just kind of dear to me.”
As the 40th anniversary comes closer, Kurtis likes to look back on when it all started.
“There were a lot of years back in the day that were six days a week, open to close.”
And now? He finds time to sneak away to play golf in the mornings, in the same way his dad took him fishing.
Jiffy Lube is open Monday through Saturday, eight a.m. to six p.m.
Address: 1192 Wallace Rd NW, Salem
(503) 391-6303