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January 12, 2006
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January 12, 2006 |
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Nippers buy BP service station from Pettit’s
Jane Nipper has a vision for the BP station that she and her husband, Dennis, have purchased. She wants it to be a place where customers feel welcomed, listened to and at home. “We want to treat you like friends and family,” she said. Last week, the Nippers and Jane’s sister and brother-in-law, Kathy and Morris Williams of New Mexico, purchased Pettit’s BP service station, at Xenia Avenue and Corry Street, from Pettit’s Enterprise. They have renamed the business Village BP. A gas station has been in that location for decades, Nipper said, and was locally owned until the Pettits purchased it nine years ago. Now, the business is once again owned by villagers, and Nipper hopes that Yellow Springers who want to support local stores will bring their business her way. Wanting to make her new business a family affair, Nipper has chosen her son-in-law, Ben Van Ausdal, as the new manager. Like both Jane and Dennis Nipper, Van Ausdal grew up in or near Yellow Springs and said he looks forward to serving the people he has known all of his life. Van Ausdal will work mainly days, he said, and Jane Nipper will come in evenings and weekends. While Dennis Nipper will continue to serve as a sergeant with the Yellow Springs Police Department, he will also keep busy as the station’s handyman, Jane Nipper said. Right now Jane Nipper and Van Ausdal are spending long hours getting to know their new business, and are evaluating their stock to decide what to keep selling and what to replace. Along with gas, the business sells a variety of wines and beers, as well as snacks, soft drinks, ice cream and other small items. Most important, Nipper and Van Ausdal said, they want to know what their customers want. Do people want hot dogs, cappuccino or a particular brand of wine? Would they like picnic benches to sit on in the summer? Whatever it is, the business’s new management will consider it, Nipper said. “We want to hear what they want,” she said. “Just come in and talk to us.” For now, though, most things will stay the same at the station, and four of BP’s employees, Hilda, Brenda, Hannah and T.J., will continue to work for Nipper. All former employees were given the option to stay on, Jane Nipper said, but not all chose to do so. Along with raising two children, Jane Nipper has worked in a local doctor’s office and bank, and she currently spends much of her day caring for her two 3-year-old granddaughters, she said. A 1986 graduate of Yellow Springs High School, Van Ausdal graduated from college with a degree in social work, but has been employed since then mainly in banks and restaurants, he said. Most recently, he worked in Cincinnati as a program manager for Fifth Third Bank, but the long commute burned him out, he said, and he’s very glad to be working in Yellow Springs. An enthusiastic soccer player, Van Ausdal has been an assistant coach of the Yellow Springs High School boys soccer team for many years. Van Ausdal and Jane Nipper feel strongly that they want their new business to support local young people’s efforts, especially in sports. “The town has been good to us,” Jane Nipper said. “We want to give back and help the program that helped our kids.” Van Ausdal said the BP station seems to be doing well. He said he receives reports each morning from oil suppliers and then determines what prices to set. Setting reasonable yet profitable gas prices is one of many things he needs to learn, he said, and the hardest part of his job so far is not having enough time to spend with his wife, Lori, who is expecting the couple’s second child. But while the new business is claiming long days from its owner and manager right now, Nipper and Van Ausdal said they are very pleased to have joined the ranks of local business people. “We grew up in this town,” Jane Nipper said. “You just want to be a part of it.”
Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com
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