After three generations, Baldwinsville auto repair shop and family business Hudson & Mowins will be in the hands of another family. Owners Greg and Cathy Hudson are selling the 69-year-old business to technician Rich Stonecypher and his wife Gwen.
Longtime customers of Hudson & Mowins need not fret: the name and the service will stay the same. The technicians you all have been comfortable with and custom to working on your vehicles will remain in place. The Hudsons will gradually transition out of working at the business over the next year or so, Cathy Hudson said.
“It’s still in its infancy, [but] we’ve struck a deal,” Greg Hudson said.
Greg and Cathy Hudson purchased Hudson & Mowins in 2002 from Greg’s father, John Hudson, and his uncle, Tom Hudson, sons of co-founder Gates Hudson, who opened Hudson & Mowins in 1946 with John Mowins.
While Greg and Cathy are considering retirement, their son, Scott, is pursuing a career as a teacher. Stonecypher said Greg Hudson approached him earlier this summer about purchasing the business. Greg Hudson said the timing was right for all parties.
“He wouldn’t want to wait too much longer to start down this road,” he said of Stonecypher.
Stonecypher, a graduate of Onondaga Community College and SUNY Cortland, has been a technician at Hudson & Mowins for 22 years. He lives in Cato with his wife, Gwen, and their three sons.
“I started working down here for Tom and John Hudson when I was 19 or 20,” Stonecypher said. “I worked with a good group of guys for a long time. They taught me a lot — I started out here small.”
Stonecypher said he feels both “nervousness and excitement” to be taking over one of B’ville’s storied family businesses.
“There’s a lot of pressure … but I also feel they think of me as family, honestly, because I’ve been here so long,” he said.
For the most part, things will stay the same at Hudson & Mowins.
“That’s a top priority for the customers — [to] make them feel at home still,” Stonecypher said.
Cathy Hudson said Stonecypher will carry on the “morals and ethics” that Hudson & Mowins have prided themselves on since the start.
“He’s just as caring about the customers and their cars as we are,” she said. “We feel very comfortable handing it over to him.”
“As far as Rich’s qualifications and experience, he grew up next to my uncle — he’s known the family and the business,” Greg Hudson said.
As for what’s next for the Hudsons, they’ll be sticking around to help Stonecypher with the transition as he secures licenses, handles financing and hires a new technician and a bookkeeper. Gwen Stonecypher will help Rich with customer service in the front office when they take over.
“We’ll be around for a while yet, while everything smooths out. We’ll be here less and less,” Cathy Hudson said. “I’m sure it’ll take the better part of a year.”
After that, Greg is looking forward to taking up an old hobby.
“I miss working on cars — I was just getting good at it when we bought the place,” he said.
“You prefer working on old cars,” Cathy Hudson added.
Cathy Hudson said she is considering selling her homemade pies and doing some freelance bookkeeping.
While they are welcoming the new chapter in their careers and their lives, the Hudson’s expressed fondness for the community they’ve done business in for decades.
“It’s nice to know that we’ve served B’ville for that long,” Greg Hudson said. “It’s pretty neat that my grandfather started right from scratch and two generations ran with it. We’ve been very fortunate — Baldwinsville’s been very good to us, and we’ve tried to be good right back.”
