Anton's Car Care Center on Sunrise Highway changes owners after 45 years

Anton’s Car Care Center has changed ownership after 45 years in business on Sunrise Highway in Rockville Centre.

“It was a good run,” Anton Parisi, the Mobil station’s former owner said. “Unfortunately, we came to a crossroads and had to make a decision.”

Parisi, 73, a resident of Wantagh, told the Herald his decision to sell the lease was due to the rising cost of rent.

“I’m not at all happy, but it is what it is,” he said. “My people never thought we would lose that place. I thought I would be there forever.”

The location was acquired by mega-merchandiser Bolla Oil Corporation, which owns and operates gas stations, convenience stores, auto repair shops and car washes across New York and New Jersey.

“I never thought this day would come,” Parisi said. “I always loved the opportunity to serve people in the Rockville Centre, Baldwin and Oceanside areas.”

Parisi said the new owners plan to knock down the existing site and construct a new Bolla Market location along Sunrise Highway. For the time being, they have agreed to keep employees on during the transition.

“Three of my guys in the shop are going to stay on with the new owners,” Parisi said. “They know my customers, so there will at least be a familiar face there.”

Through the decades, Parisi has seen many changes in the community, from technological advancements like the internet to the increase in electric vehicles.

“We’ve been here a long time,” he said. “Over the last couple of years, the way people do business is changing.”

Since the coronavirus pandemic, he has seen more people have started to work remotely from home, with fewer people driving to work.

Parisi said that while he had other plans for the Mobil gas station and service center in Rockville Centre, the rent price became too cost-prohibitive for him to continue to stay in business.

“I wasn’t planning to retire,” he said. “I had other plans, but things happened that were out of my control.”

Although things did not play out quite how he would have liked, Parisi says that he still owns several gas stations across Long Island, where the cost of rent has not forced him to change hands.

He also said that he plans to stop by the Mobil once in a while to say “hello” to the employees in the back.

“It was an interesting run, to say the least,” Parisi said. “I enjoyed my time there … but unfortunately, every ride must come to an end.”