New Hopatcong Auto Shop Owner Benefits From Experience

For Robert Iannaccone, less is more.

Iannaccone owned a Jefferson auto parts and service shop throughout the 1990's. And while business was good, he said, sometimes things got a little too busy.

"Don't get too big," Iannaccone said. "Just keep within what you can manage."

That's Iannaccone's philosphy these days with Affordable Automotive Service & Parts, which he opened in December. The two-bay shop took over on Lakeside Boulevard for Geller's Automotive, which left for Byram in August.

While Iannaccone wouldn't mind a long list of clients, he said his current model allows him to keep prices down—he said he charges $65 an hour for labor—and keep customers happy.

"This way we keep it to what we know we've got to do," he said. "It's so much better being smaller. Of course you want to be busy all the time. But this way you're not under the gun all the time and you keep a nice, steady pace going."

Iannaccone, who works full-time as a Con Edison mechanic, said he's at the shop seven days a week with longtime friend and mechanic, Joe Brown. Both are Hopatcong natives. Iannaccone never left the borough, having bought his parents' house.

Iannaccone said he invested about $8,000 into renovating the building, a process that took several months to finish. Despite the gap between service at the building, Brown said Decemeber "might have been our busiest month."

Iannaccone said "we opened the place up with the idea of saving people money, and that's for real. I mean, the economy's terrible."

Or, in other words, less is more.