Stores Give Customers a Clean, Green Experience

One of the first things any customer will notice at the new Tunex stores is their immaculate, doctor’s office feel. The customer waiting area is positioned strategically between the repair and oil change sides of the business, where it is quiet, clean and complete with a television set that shows auto care programming and with a variety of magazines (and not just about cars!) to help pass the time.

The experience is kept pleasant and grease-free by a few smart design features: separate restrooms for employees and customers and a comfortable employee break room upstairs with a refrigerator and lockers so that technicians don’t have to eat their lunch in the customer waiting room.

On the “green” side, Tunex is taking every step possible to protect the environment. The new stores capture and re-burn used oil to heat the building—even crushing used oil filters to extract and re-burn every last drop. They also recycle antifreeze and use a hose system to suck up waste oil so that none is spilled on the ground.

But what about leaks or spills in the lube bays? Those seem somewhat inevitable, but Butterfield thought of that, too, by designing bays with no drains.

“That way if there is a leak, it doesn’t get into the storm drains,” he says. “It’s contained so it can be cleaned up.”

“This is a hostile environment, with chemicals and oils,” Ennis adds, “so whatever we can do to try to help is a good thing. Good for everybody.”

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