“Don’t just dream. Have plans,” reads a sign outside Grandview Tire & Auto on 70th Street in Edina. The quote was perfect for Kamal Aggarwal. The Edina resident was talking to her son about taking his schooling more seriously while they were driving to the store. “Sometimes the quotes just speak to you,” Aggarwal says. “We take some time to talk more and reflect. It’s fun to learn from them.”
The sign’s quotes are the brainchild of Grandview Tire & Auto’s owner, Tim Murphy. The automotive shop is one of four in Edina and Lakeville. Murphy once used the marquees to advertise oil changes and other sales. But he wanted to make more of an impact, and decided quotes were the way to go.
“It’s out of the norm, without a doubt,” says Rick Murphy, vice president of Murphy Automotive and one of the owners – he is also Tim Murphy’s son. “The whole point of why we’re in business is to make things easier for our customers and bring a little bit of joy to their day. We’ve had a lot of people in the neighborhood just swing in to say thank you.”
Murphy says their goal is to deliver a positive, motivational and inspirational message. Each location’s store manager chooses a quote every month to put on the sign. They change the quotes once a month and never have the same quote twice in any of the Edina and Lakeville locations.
“A big part of our business is philanthropy and community involvement,” Murphy says. It’s a philosophy best summed up in a recent sign outside Grandview Tire & Auto: “Good deeds speak louder than words.”
