KENNEBUNK — Getting your windshield cleaned, your tires checked and gas pumped by an attendant is something you don’t see too much of in the age of self-serve, but a few neighborhood gas stations are still holding onto the services of years past.

Bill Guay, owner of Guay’s Sunoco on Port Road in the Lower Village, has spent the last 20 years offering all the services that would be expected at a full-service gas station, but also mixes in mechanical work and moped sales at his shop.

“Our loyal customer base is what’s really supported us through the years,” Guay said over the bells ringing when drivers pull up to get their gas pumped.

Guay gained his start in the auto repair business in 1966 at his father’s garage, where the 5 Points Shopping Center is now located in Biddeford.

He said one customer has come to him at his garage and previous others for gas and car work since the 1940s, while another woman and her family have done the same since he opened his current garage in 1991.

“Neighborhood garages are becoming minimized by the big companies,” said Guay, adding that there’s hardly any money to be made in gasoline, and that most of his profits come from fixing cars and selling mopeds on the side. Selling gas is used to round out the services his shop provides, luring customers to the auto repairs and products.

There’s a sense of responsibility to the community taken on by local garages, Guay said. Residents get to the know the names of those working on their cars and pumping their gas, and friendships form.

According to Guay, problems arise for small business garages when customers decide to shop around for the best deals and lowest prices at companies like Walmart and specialty shops.

Other gas stations find convenience and friendliness to be the finest qualities of running their businesses.

“A lot of people are surprised when they come in,” said Alex Bergeron, manager of the Holly’s gas station on Route 111 in Arundel, which opened in March.

Drivers expecting to pump their own gas are happy to see attendants who will do it for them with no additional charge, Bergeron said. A cash-only business, Holly’s doesn’t offer credit or debit payments because of the high transaction costs.

“It costs about a couple thousand dollars a month in credit card fees that would have to be paid to the credit card companies,” Bergeron said.

Holly’s offers gas pumping and wiper fixing free of charge, according to Bergeron, because the company would like to be “cheap all around.”

Alfred Gas on Biddeford Road in Alfred has followed the same guidelines as Holly’s, adding fluid checks, dog bones and lollipops to keep drivers coming back.

“They know when they’re coming in that they’re going to get the lollipops,” said Ethan Gilman, a gas attendant at Alfred, about the children brought by parents to the station.

Janet Morin, a resident of Sanford, has made the trip to Alfred Gas for the last two years because of the friendly attendants and convenience, she said.

“I like that you get to know the people that work here,” Morin said.

Customer Jessica Giarnese of Alfred said she finds the station to be helpful when driving her children around town.

“It’s nice that I don’t have to get my kids out of the car,” she said.

Gilman said that business rises during the winter months when it’s colder and people want less and less to step outside their warm car.

Ray Giandria, owner of Alfred Gas, said the gas station is a great place for high school students to get their first job.

The cost of hiring attendants makes the self-serve businesses that much more competitive, according to Giandria, and the real profits come from selling snacks and drinks, which Alfred Gas does not.

“It’s a trick for paying against self-serve for labor,” said Giandria.

The key, he said, is the relationship that is built between the employees and customers.

— Staff Writer Matt Kiernan can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 326, or at mkiernan@journaltribune.com.