Father and son Bart and Brian Luck have bought two Aamco Transmissions shops in Spokane.

Bart Luck says he and his son took over the Aamco at 2925 S. Mount Vernon and one at 230 W. Boone, as of Sept. 8., from Mike Evans, who owned those stores and two other Aamco shops here through his company MESK Inc. Luck says Evans plans to continue operating the other two stores.

Each of the shops the Lucks bought has about 5,000 square feet of leased space, Luck says. Together, they employ seven people, in addition to the Lucks.

Luck says he and his son had been looking for a business opportunity for some time. With the current economy, people are keeping their cars longer, which increases volume at auto service centers such as Aamco, he says. At the same time, he says, the number of repair shops has dwindled some as small operations have struggled with the downturn.

Aamco stores offer transmission repairs and rebuilds, engine rebuilding and replacing, and a variety of routine servicing, Luck says.

"We do everything but tires," he says.

The Philadelphia-based Aamco chain appealed to the Lucks because it has a long-standing reputation, and the stores here were well run by the former owner. Luck says that for now, he and his son have no plans to add more locations.