New parts store opens

TEAGUE AUTO PARTS opened last month and plans a formal grand opening this month. Pictured are: l-r, Melissa Bodine, owners Brad and Kim Bodine and niece Sadie Sutton, Trey Davidson and Jody Bodine. Filling a void in the business community, Teague Auto Parts opened last month on the U.S. 84 loop and is holding its official grand opening June 26-27.

The business is owned by Brad and Kim Bodine and is a full line automotive parts store stressing customer service.

"We are very glad to be here," Mrs. Bodine says. "We have had a very positive response."

Teague Auto Parts is affiliated with Parts Plus, an automotive parts dealer in business since 1957 and with dealer stores located throughout the country.

The owners explain that their store is not a franchise, they are just signed up to carry parts and supplies of the national company.

Bodine is a Teague native, graduated Teague high school in 1994, attended Navarro College and earned an associate degree in electrical systems and technology in 1998 at Texas State Technical College.

He worked for an electrical engineering company in Dallas for a decade, then moved back to Teague and took a job with Nucor Steel.

The couple has owned the building they are in for awhile and were thinking about leasing it to an auto parts firm, when they decided to open their own business.

Teague Economic Development Corporation approached them about leasing the building and they decided to work with the organization in opening Teague Auto Parts.

"I worked for all the shops around here and always had an interest in cars," Bodine says.

The store fills a void created the past several years when one auto parts store burned and another closed.

Teague Auto Parts carries a full line of automotive parts and accessories, as well as marine and tractor parts. They also make hydraulic hoses and rotate brake rotors.

Mrs. Bodine is a 1998 graduate of Plainview high school, earned a bachelor's degree in management information systems at Texas Tech University in 2002. She went to work as a financial advisor with Plains Capital Bank in Lubbock then transferred to Dallas where she met her future husband.

The couple were married last September.

Mrs. Bodine left Plains to take a job with Wells Fargo Bank and is now a financial advisor serving several counties out of an office in Palestine.

"I've always been very entrepreneurial and he's always wanted to own his own business," Mrs. Bodine says. "It was a hard financial decision to make, though."

The couple runs the business with one full time employee, Trey Davidson, and the help of family members.

"I can only do it in my free time. I don't have any free time anymore," Mrs. Bodine says.

The couple points out that they stress customer service and report that if they need to order a part for a customer, if they do so by 5:30 p.m. it will be at their store before opening at 7 a.m.

Teague Auto Parts is open from 7 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays.

The store also provides delivery service of parts throughout Freestone county.

Outside work, Bodine maintains and races a dirt track car with his father, Jody.