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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet Comprising the Gary’s Auto Sales team includes, front row, owners Gary and Mary Raymond. In back are, from left, sales representatives Brian Goding and Jeff Ouellette. In Mary’s lap is none other than the adorable pooch Roxie, who jokingly has the title of public relations manager. |
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Gary and Mary Raymond have been married for 42 years, and working together at Gary’s Auto Sales for 30 of those years.
Truly a family business, Gary’s Auto Sales and Service have been matching their customers with the perfect cars at affordable prices for 30 years, and the business is still going strong.
“We have a lot of loyal repeat customers — some have done business with us for over 30 years,” Gary said.
While the Raymonds have spent the past 30 years placing generations of Aroostook drivers in their perfect vehicle, longtime residents of the county may have notice that they’ve never been inundated with flashy advertisements by the business on television or on the radio, and for a very good reason.
As the Raymond’s have found over decades of service, word of mouth is the best advertising that money can’t buy.
Since the businesses first opened at its initial New Sweden location in 1982, outstanding customer service and quality vehicles have resulted in excellent auto-buying experiences and, resultantly, Gary’s happy customers aren’t hard to find.
Attention to detail and attention to their customers needs are both attributes of Gary’s Auto Sale’s success in the Aroostook auto world — exemplifying that attention to detail, both Gary and Mary can remember the first vehicle the business ever sold even 30 years later: it was a 1964 Toyota Celica.
“Since then, we’ve sold over 11,000 vehicles,” Gary said, adding that the business has the largest used car inventory north of Bangor.
Historically, Gary’s has always been a place to find great deals on used cars because instead pricing the vehicles based off the blue book value and additional markup, Gary’s vehicles are priced to be sold; as such, vehicles often don’t stick around the lot for too long.
“Our prices are usually a better buy because we aim to sell our vehicles,” Gary explained.
Gary and Mary have watched the automotive industry evolve over the past 30 years through the diversity of their lot, but the couple agreed hands-down about their favorite vehicle currently on the lot — coincidentally, it’s a Toyota, just like that first vehicle Gary ever sold.
“It’s a maroon 2010 Toyota Tundra,” Gary said, qualifying that some of the reasons the truck is currently his favorite on the lot is because it has four wheel drive and an extended cab.
Gary’s currently has ten employees, but not all at their Presque Isle Road location; while the Raymond’s consider many of their employees to be family, their son runs another facet of the business, Gary’s Yamaha on Sweden Street. Completing the businesses’ building trifecta, Gary’s Auto Sales Annex is located on Sweden Street as well.
While the couple laughed and joked when asked about their ability to work together so successfully throughout their entrepreneurship, Mary very seriously placed the success of their business on their customers.
“At Gary’s, we’d like to thank our customers for their continuous patronage for the past 30 years,” she said. “Our great customers have kept us in business.”
