*Reprinted with permission from The Courier-Times

Third generation keeps business running
By Codi Hamblin
Staff Reporter

Photo by Codi Hamblin
Sedro-Woolley Auto Parts will celebrate its 70th year in May as the Huggins family kept the family business into its third generation. Steve Huggins and his sister Cheri Queen (both left) are the third generation to operate the business. Fay and Les Huggins (both right) purchased the business in the 1980s from Les’ father Ray Huggins.

The Huggins family will celebrate May 18 as their family-owned auto parts store reaches its 70th year of business. Sedro-Woolley Auto Parts was opened in 1938 by two brothers, Ray and Roland Huggins, who moved from Kansas to Skagit County. After 70 years, the business has passed into the hands of the third generation of the Huggins family. The store provides customers with various auto parts, paint and body products, and a machine shop allows them to make auto part repairs. The family also purchased Burlington Auto Parts in 1999.

Having the third generation own the store is an unusual circumstance as many businesses do not make it into the second generation, said Les Huggins, second generation store owner who is the son of Ray Huggins. Les and his wife, Fay, purchased the store from Ray in 1983. After about 25 years of ownership, Les and Fay passed the the business to the third generation when their son, Steve Huggins, and daughter, Cheri Queen, purchased the auto parts store in 2006. Steve Huggins and Queen said they grew up around the store and had spent a lot of time at the shop. Steve began working at the business when he was 16 sweeping shop floors and stocking the shelves and continued the tradition of store ownership. (more…)