Larry’s AutoWorks repairs cars in one of the country’s hottest high-tech jobs centers, Mountain View. But the growth of companies like Google Inc., LinkedIn Corp. and Intuit Corp. hasn’t helped owner Larry Moore with much ripple effect.

Business at the 10-person shop has recovered from the depths of the recession. Yet revenue, having stabilized at an expected $2 million this year, is still down from peak of about $2.5 million in 2008.

“We’re on exactly the same pace this year as we were on last year,” Moore said. “We’re stable, but I don’t like stable. I like growing.”

Larry’s trend lines show that while the region’s economy is minting millionaires and billion-dollar startup valuations, service-sector small businesses aren’t all being lifted by the tech. These are not go-go days for the auto-repair world, even if the shop is next door to Google. (Partly to blame: Googlers have a lower car-ownership rate than those at earlier Mountain View companies.)

Moore, 69, started the business in 1972, when the Googleplex was still farmland. Its niche: Local middle-class managers who are looking to take care of their sensible cars. The business, at at 2526 Leghorn St., historically did well in economic downturns when customers aimed to stretch every last mile from their vehicles. Not so in the most recent recession.

“This time, I had customers who were out of work for two years,” Moore said. “Now we’re coming back to where people are saying, ‘You know, I need to take care of this car, but I don’t want to go overboard.’ People are happy they have jobs, but they got burned not long ago, so they’re cautious.”

Nathan Donato-Weinstein covers commercial real estate and transportation for the Silicon Valley Business Journal.