Couple leaves retirement for used car dealership

SUPERIOR – After a lifetime of selling used cars, a move to Superior and an adopted parrot brought a man and his wife out of retirement to open a combined dealership and second-hand shop.

Jim and Alice Straight opened Alphie’s in August. The couple described the store as a recycling business. The dealership specializes in used cars while the other part of the business, the second-hand store, has a variety of different items for sale.

“It’s all stuff we’ve picked up over the years [and] from larger homes we’ve had,” said Alice. “All kinds of stuff.”

There is a little bit of everything in the shop rooms. Two rooms in the building are filled with items, which range from knickknacks, books, decorations, furniture and bed sheets. Alice said the second-hand shop aspect of the business has been more popular with the women who come in. She said the cars, though, are for everyone.

According to Alice, most of the vehicles are priced around $10,000 or less. Jim said the cars sold on his lot are in good condition and he tries to squeeze as many extra miles as he can out of the vehicle. The prices are low so a customer who does not want to pay full price, or cannot afford full price, can still get a good, reliable car. Jim said the reputation of used car dealers as dishonest or prone to cheat customers was exaggerated.

“When a used car fails it’s an emotional experience for the customer,” Jim said. “It becomes quite large in their mind and everyone they talk to.”

Alphie, the business’s namesake and mascot, is a story all her own. According to Jim, the parrot came to the Straights when the owner became unable to take care of her.

“She had to have a surgical procedure,” said Jim. “We offered to take care of [Alphie] while she was in California having the procedure done. To make a long story short, she never took it back.”

At his old business in Missoula, Jim would take Alphie to work where she became a talking point and would relieve tension in potential customers. When the Straights came to Superior and decided to open the business, Jim recalled these reactions and decided to make the bird a main attraction.

Jim has been in the car business for over 50 years. With a natural knack for business, he said he was always buying and selling things. According to Jim, he got his start in grade school by buying motor scooters to overhaul and sell for a profit. Once he was able to drive at approximately 15, he started to buy and sell those. It did not take long for Jim to get a full dealer’s license and start to sell professionally.

The Straights came to Superior as an attempt at retirement, but it did not stick. After Jim and Alice had lived in the area for a year, Jim noticed how one lot was always empty. He felt it was a shame and thought someone should do something with the space.

Jim decided to do what he did best and bought the lot to open a used car dealership. Recalling how people liked Alphie at his old business, he decided to name the new one after the bird and gave her a place of honor in a giant cage behind his desk. Thus, Alphie’s was born.