JOHN DAY — The NAPA auto parts store in John Day is under new ownership.

The change came with Ron and Sherri Lundbom’s sale of the store to Gary and Gayln Snair of Redmond for an undisclosed amount of money. Gary Snair was previously the co-owner of the Bend, Madras and Redmond NAPA stores. The sale was finalized on July 1.

The John Day NAPA auto parts store was opened by Lundbom’s father, Don, in April of 1966, and Ron Lundbom started working part-time at the store in 1976. He began taking on more of a hands-on role with the store in the mid-90s and took over management of the business following the retirement of his parents in the early 2000s.

Lundbom had hoped his son Stefan would take over operation of the store, but circumstances in his son’s life took that option off the table. “I kind of thought my son was going to take over, and then his wife changed career fields and he followed her in her career,” Lundbom said.

Once it was clear that Lundbom didn’t have a successor lined up to take over the business, Snair reached out to Lundbom and asked him what is plans for the business were.

“The business was in a trust — my mom and dad set up a trust for us,” Lundbom said. “Once that was cleaned up and the estate was taken care of, we started talking and made the deal on July 1.”

Lundbom said he owed it to Stefan to wait until he decided he wasn’t going to take over the business before deciding to make the move to sell.

“I admire him for sticking with his wife and wanting to make the marriage work and follow her to support her career,” Lundbom said. “It’s all good.”

Stefan Lundbom currently resides in Prineville.

The store in John Day is the first of several NAPA locations Snair is looking to purchase, according to Lundbom. The store has already coordinated with Burns, Redmond, Bend and Prineville to use their inventory.

The changes Snair is making are going to be good for the community and good for NAPA, according to Lundbom: “He’s got the capital to enhance what we’ve got going.”

Lundbom declined to reveal what the sale price of the business was, saying only that the deal was fair.

“I’m not going to disclose (the purchase price),” he said. “I got what it’s worth, that’s basically it. … I got a fair price. He’s happy with everything.”

As a condition of the sale, the name of the store will change from John Day Auto Parts to John Day NAPA.

Snair is eager to get started and already has a house in the city, according to Lundbom.

“We’ve hired two new guys and we have a full staff, and we’re training them to fill in the slack when I leave,” he said.

Lundbom said he was ready to transition into retirement following 46 years of working at the John Day NAPA store.

“I’ve been getting up and going to work at a quarter after 6 every day for as long as I can remember,” he said. “The longest we’d ever take off, we might leave on a Friday early and be gone until Sunday and come back to work. Never drew unemployment and never had any longer than that off.”

Lundbom will be working at the store until the end of the month in an effort to help provide a smooth transition of ownership. The 68-year-old Lundbom, who also serves as mayor of John Day, said he is looking forward to doing more golfing, camping and hiking following his last day with the company.