SHOP: Epic Auto Care
LOCATION: Jersey City, N.J.
OWNER: Alex Park
SIZE: 4,000 square feet
STAFF: 11 (3 full-time technicians, 1 part-time technician, 4 oil-change technicians, 2 customer service representatives, 1 owner/general manager)
MONTHLY CAR COUNT: 355
ANNUAL REVENUE: $850,000
1) Alex Park opened New Jersey–based Epic Auto Care seven years ago, but when a 2010 fire destroyed the building, he realized he had an opportunity to reinvent his company.
It took nearly a year to reopen Epic, and three years later, Park has built his company back up in his renovated, industrial-feeling shop by relying on modern style, transparency and technology.
The first thing you’ll notice when you walk into the Safety Orange and Dark Ash shop is the custom-made raw steel front desk. The table has several special details, including a carved out “Epic” logo on one side and a large backlit acrylic painting with a honeycomb-looking center on another.
“The acrylic is facing the entrance and when cars or people go by, they can look in and see the colors,” Park says. “Especially in the winter time, it comes out looking like a burning log from the outside.”
2) Following suit with the shop’s modern, industrial theme, the lobby and bay areas are outfitted with corrugated steel on the walls and ceiling. The raised ceilings reach between 18 and 19 feet high.
3) Technology is important to Park, who has outfitted the lobby with a flat-screen television and created a completely connected shop from the lobby to the six-bay work area. The computer system allows customer service representatives and technicians to review repair notes or the car’s customary before-and-after pictures with customers, sometimes in real-time.
“Even if [customers] don’t know what they are looking at, the fact that we took the time to show them, they are very satisfied and appreciative,” he says.
4) To drive home the value of transparency at Epic, Park had a large bay window installed between the lobby and work area. Customers can watch their vehicle being serviced and, once finished, technicians always show car owners the old parts from repairs.
