Farmville's last of its kind full service gas station

Many people say full service gas stations are soon to be a thing of the past and in most places, the courtesy of having someone pump your gas at the gas station doesn't exist.

But if you look closely, you can still find that "thing" in a few tucked away places. Farmville has one of the "last of its kind" full service gas stations and its customers can't imagine filling up without it.

One person is long-time employee Kelley Jordan. She said, the full service stations are nostalgic and bring back fond memories. Thinking about the filling stations vanishing is hard for her. “It’s going to be a thing of the past, it’s sad I remember as a little girl full service and that’s how we got to know people,” said Jordan.

Customers like Doris Pittman don't take the gas station for granted either and said she never buys gas from anywhere else.

But last June, the pumps stopped and she and all the other customers were forced to go to other stations and pump their own gas or have someone pump it for them.

Sounds in the mechanic shop were gone and Carraway's Service Center shut down. Long-time employees like Kelley Jordan hung on a little longer. She said, “This was like a sanctuary for us and customers. This is where we could come and chill and vent and laugh and cry.”

Customers kept hoping they'd hear the laughter again. Doris Pittman said, “I stayed home. I didn’t buy any gas anywhere else."

They couldn't find that full service anywhere nearby and Kelley Jordan said, she even had people calling her asking what they should do while the station was closed.

“I would go up or I’d have one of my kids meet them up at Speedway and speedway was like, these people are waiting for us to walk out and we don’t do that,” said Jordan.

Most gas stations don't offer full service and a month after closing last June, the filling station would return in Farmville.

The sign now reads Plaza Auto Care and before that it was Carraway Service Center, and owned by the Mozingos before that. But there is one sign that has not changed, the full-service sign. But the question looms just how long will full-service gas stations be around.

New owners are extending time for this Farmville full service and customer George Dupree appreciates having the station back open in town.

Dupree said, "Especially old people because they don’t have to get out and try to pump it in the cold you, you just set in your car and wait for them to pump it so that’s a help I think that’s good.”

Owners Jeff and Karen James of Plaza Auto are a third generation auto business family and bought the gas station for that very reason, keeping tradition alive on Farmville's May Boulevard.