Julie Fairbank recently worked her last day as the owner of Fairbank AutoPro but she has yet to work her last day in the automotive parts and accessories business.
“Some of our customers have joked that Amanda and I have just swapped roles and now she’s the boss,” Julie said.
But that’s pretty much the case as Julie sold the business (she and her late husband Peter started more than 30 years ago) to two of her staff, Amanda and Joe Sime.
Julie’s however agreed to stay on a bit longer as a casual staff member working a few hours a week.
“I’m really pleased it’s gone to someone who will keep the business the way it is—to the extent of customer service and that sort of thing—not that they will keep it like a living museum—but rather run it under the same principles,” Julie told The Cobar Weekly.
Julie said she has mixed feelings about selling the business she and Peter created.
“The last eight years without Pete have been hard but I’ve been proud to carry on his legacy as much as I could.
“It’s been a real journey and I’ve met some lovely people.
“I enjoyed 99 percent of it. It’s been good, and I can say it’s been more of a lifestyle than a job.”
While working at Middleton’s Tyre Service Peter approached owner, Ann Middleton, about setting up an AutoPro franchise after seeing other shops around the country in his travels.
Peter thought having a national pricing structure and good stock availability would work well for Cobar and Ann agreed.
“A few years later Ann wanted to get out of the business and so we bought it,” Julie said.
Two years later they moved Fairbank AutoPro up the street a bit to its current location, the former Cobar Motors garage, when they bought the building.
Julie said while the business originally had been Peter’s dream—he was a fitter and machinist, a mechanic and was “car mad”, Julie said she also developed an “appreciation’ for all things mechanical and found it an interesting field to work in.
Their children also love their cars, however Julie said none of them could see themselves running the business.
“But they all did their stint here, they all did their Saturday mornings and worked after school to help out,” Julie said.
When asked what she was most proud of in the past three decades, Julie said “being able to keep the doors open for 30 years and the feedback from the customers”.
“I’m proud that we’ve given them good service, good prices and that little ‘above and beyond’ service when we could.”
She’s also proud of the apprentices they have trained in the business in the past 30 years.
“It’s nice to see them and hear from them from time to time and to see that they’ve done well.”
Julie said business has always been “quite good” over the past three decades.
“We weathered through the economic ups and downs.
“The biggest blow we had was when the CSA Mine shut suddenly and we, like nearly every business in town, were left with a bit of a debt.”
Julie said luckily they weren’t hit too hard during COVID shutdowns and could continue working as they were classified as an “essential business”.
“Droughts were tough. It was tough seeing some of our customers suffer, and money was not being spent on new things but it was being spent on repairs so we could help out that way,” she said.
“Having a multi-faceted business helped because you can’t put all your eggs in one basket when you run a business in Cobar.”
Julie recently decided that it was time to sell up when she realised she’d worked half her lifetime in the business.
“I wanted more spare time, I want to travel and my number nine grandchild is due in May.
“That’s a fulltime job on it’s own so I look forward to spending more time with the grandkids.”
She also plans to travel around a bit visiting old friends and relatives she hasn’t seen for a while and overseas travel is also on the ‘to do’ list.
“I’ll still be around, I plan on staying in Cobar,” she said.
