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Richard W. Rodriguez
Dan Stroud, nearing 70, says he doesn't have plans to retire any time soon. "She won't let me," he jokes of his wife, Jamie.
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Richard W. Rodriguez
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In the front stands Alex Espino, left, and Dan Stroud. Standing in the middle of the back is Alex Espino Jr. — "Junior." The other guys who work there include Charlie Garcia, Billy Cockrell, and Victor Sellers. Billy is a neighbor of Dan and Jamie Stroud. He introduced the two years ago.
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Richard W. Rodriguez
Alex Espino has been working at Stroud Auto Supply since he was 18 — a total of 36 years. "I still have his application," says Dan Stroud.
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Jamie Stroud joins the huddle, with Alex Espino, Dan Stroud, and Junior.
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Dan Stroud was introduced to the auto parts business by his father, Blackie. On Sundays as an 8-year-old, Dan Stroud would read parts books.
Dan Stroud recalls with some obvious pride the day two fellas from a big-box retailer walked into his store some years ago. It was obvious who they were. Both were in the uniform of their employer.
“I said, ‘What can I help you with?’” Stroud says. “He goes, ‘Well nothing. We're just going to see how we're going to run you out of business.’”
Nobody likes a bully. Stroud told them to leave.
“Now they have an account,” he says, laughing.
Stroud Auto Supply — the moment you cross the threshold the glorious industrial musk hovers like cigarette smoke at an old bar or Mrs. Baird’s yeast rising on I-30 — is still standing on Sylvania, 62 years after Stroud’s father, E.R. “Blackie” Stroud opened the business in 1963. Stroud Auto Supply is very likely the last remaining independent auto parts store in Fort Worth.
“I started working here when I was 8,” Stroud says. “Reading catalogs. Like some of these catalogs I have hanging up here.”
Blackie Stroud’s decision to start the business, Dan Stroud says, was based on necessity — the mother of all invention. Blackie, originally from Tulsa, had been laid off at a container corporation. He had a friend with an auto parts store, Riley Auto Supply. Through the generosity of an auto parts warehouse, Duncan and Co., Blackie — his hair was pitch black, his son says — opened up his own store under the banner of a second Riley Auto Supply. Duncan let him go into business with no money down, Dan Stroud says.
“Sometimes I get emotional,” Stroud says, thinking about the business’ beginnings.
That evolved into Stroud Auto Supply.
“His parents used to tell me stories when they first opened,” says Jamie Stroud, Dan’s wife, a retired school counselor who has stopped by on this day. “His mother would cook dinner and bring it to the store to allow them to stay open longer just to make ends meet."
Says Dan: “He worked on Christmas, he worked on New Year's. He worked every holiday.”
Dan Stroud and his brother, Randy, took ownership of the store upon Blackie’s death in 1995. Randy Stroud died suddenly in 2014. The brothers expanded the business in 1995 by buying what is now the other half of the Stroud’s building.
Each May, Stroud hosts a customer appreciation day with a car show, food, and entertainment. Old classic cars line the store outside. Super Pollo nearby caters.
“It’s a way to say thank you to Riverside,” Jamie says. “They've been really good to us.”
Riverside is part of this family.
Alex Espino is the manager of the store. His son, Alex Jr., also works there. They call him “Junior.” “It’s just easier that way,” says Junior, with a smile. Alex has been working at the store for 36 years — since he was 18.
You can see a day when Espino and Junior are in control here. Charlie Garcia, Billy Cockrell, and Victor Sellers work in the shop, too. All of these guys are family, with an air of mischief and fun ever present among them.
“It's family,” says Jamie. “It's completely family.”