Roundabout Repair Shop, located just off the roundabout on Business 30 Southwest, is bringing a fresh look and valuable services to the Mount Vernon community.

Offering diagnostics, tune-ups, brakes, tires and suspension repairs, owner Kraig Hunter is ready to meet the needs of local residents.

Growing up on a small farm, Hunter said that he has always been interested in fixing things.

“My dad and grandpa were into tractors and that kind of stuff,” Hunter said. “I took to the love of mechanical stuff, but got the bug of cars.”

He started out working on BMX bikes, but Hunter said when he “got old enough to drive, it kind of morphed into automobiles.”

Hunter’s passion for cars is matched by his knowledge and experience. Raised in the small southern Minnesota town of Wilder, he studied automotive engineering at the University of Minnesota Mankato.

After graduation, he worked for Chevrolet in Detroit for two years before transitioning into support engineering and product management in precision agriculture, in which he spent the last 27 years. Now, Hunter is ready for another change.

“I had a vision to do handyman work or become a carpenter or something,” Hunter said. “But I knew that I wanted to get out of the corporate world and be my own boss for a while.”

Hunter said that he wasn’t necessarily expecting to open a repair shop, but that he learned about the property from a conversation out of the blue.

“The stars kind of just aligned with this whole thing,” Hunter said.

A Minnesota native, Hunter and his family moved to Iowa in the summer of 2006 as a result of a career change, and the family has been in Mount Vernon ever since.

Today, Roundabout Repair is a family-run operation, with Hunter handling repairs and his wife Pam helping with office management.

The shop name is also a unique aspect of the repair shop, with Hunter saying he has received lots of compliments on it. The name of the shop wasn’t initially based on the location, but came to be from the family bantering back and forth on the name one day.

Roundabout Repair is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except Wednesdays, when it opens at 9 a.m. When he is not working, Hunter enjoys barbequing, smoking meat, and working on his own project cars. Hunter is currently in the process of restoring an old pickup.

As for the future, Hunter said he plans to grow steadily.

“I want to walk before I run in regards to what things look like,” he said. “I was really busy for the first three weeks before I officially opened for business, and it has been steady ever since.”

If residents are looking to connect with Hunter for repairs or vehicle issues, they can call the shop at 319895-8119, or use the contact dropbox on the website, roundaboutrepairshop.com