Left, Dustin Brown and his brother Nolan Brown stand inside the garage of their new business at 2203 Golf Course Road. This garage marks the third location for the family business that spans several generations. (By Stephen Montoya/Observer)
Brothers Nolan and Dustin Brown are proud that they’ve expanded the family business to a third location in Rio Rancho.
Brown’s Automotive Experts, at 2203 Golf Course Road next to Cafe Bella, is just the latest addition to a family tradition that spans a few decades, starting at a shop in Bosque Farms.
“My grandpa started his first shop in Bosque Farms, and then my father took over my great-uncle’s shop in 1984 on Fourth Street,” Nolan said. “That was the original Brown’s Automotive, and then we opened up our second location in Los Ranchos.”
According to Nolan, the family had talked about expansion for a few years and looked at Rio Rancho’s growth as a factor in their final decision to expand.
“When we saw this place come up for sale, it felt like an opportunity, like fate had made a decision for us,” Dustin said.
The process of expanding to Rio Rancho was easy, he said.
“The city and the local businesses have been great to work with,” he said. “It’s been eye-opening to see how much Rio Rancho has grown. Where there are houses, we used to go shooting.”
As far as service goes, Nolan and Dustin are unanimous about wanting to be a great local automotive service that can recommend specialty services to their customers.
“We are going to be doing diagnostics, brakes…a little bit of tire work, check-engine light repair, timing belts, just general automotive maintenance,” Nolan said.
Brown’s also does advanced-level diagnostics, which can point to a specialty fix like a transmission rebuild.
“We might not be able to do everything here but can recommend a specialty shop for our customers,” Nolan said.
Dustin said being a mechanic is like being a doctor: Not every doctor specializes in everything.
“We don’t fix everything; some issues have to be taken to a specialist,” Dustin said. “We wouldn’t want to wing it on a client’s expensive car; we would rather send it to an expert for that section of the car.”
For the most part, Nolan and Dustin said, the over-2,000-square-foot space was already set up for their business, which has created four local jobs.
The Brown brothers said they plan on having a grand opening the first week in October with an inflatable jump for kids and refreshments for the community to enjoy.
