Impressive Interiors

When Jeremy and Jeana Babcock began leasing the Rochester, Minnesota, shop that bears their name in April 2011, they knew they had a full-blown renovation on their hands. The space they moved into, a former Firestone, had been vacant since 2009 and needed more than just a fresh coat of paint. 

“It was a mess. It was dirty, dingy, had a bad layout and was was white, red, and yellow when we started our reno,” says Jeana Babcock 

Their vision was to make Babcock Auto Care feel as comfortable as a modern, upscale home, and a $120,000 investment from their landlord made her goal possible.  

Using the capital, Jeremy and Jeana anchored the lobby with a lounge area complete with a gas fireplace. They added a full coffee bar, installed a children’s play area, and set up café style seating with high-top tables for people who want to work while they wait on their vehicles to be repaired. Mood lighting, earth tones, live green plant and an open floor plan add to the ambiance of the shop’s lobby. 

“I just wanted people to feel comfortable,” Babcock says. “I wanted to give it a homey feel.” 

From the outside in, the Babcocks aimed to portray the shop as classy and professional from its logo to its lobby. Here’s how they achieved it. 

Developing the Identity

Jeana knew she wanted a logo that would be strong, visible, and unmistakable. Enlisting the help of Jeremy’s uncle Hal, a Texas-based graphic designer, the couple went through a few iterations of its logo with and without graphics. It finally came together when Jeana sketched her rendition of the logo on a note card and added a visual element from Hal’s design.  

“I just said, ‘I want something simple. I want our name and so I literally drew it out on a note card. He had sent us this cool gray ‘B’. So, I said I want you to put that gray ‘B’ in the background. He mocked it up, and it was perfect - then we just backlit it,” Babcock says. 

Brightening Up 

The sun shines approximately 180 days out of the year in Rochester, Minnesota—the national average is 205, in case you’re wondering—and nearly one-third of the year it sees some form of precipitation. Understanding Minnesotans need to get the most out of these sunny days, Jeremy and Jeana positioned the café seating near the windows and kept the glass largely unobstructed to allow the maximum amount of natural light to wash the space.   

“Natural lighting lifts everyone’s mood … it makes you feel good,” Babcock says. “We have a lot of clouds up here, so even if you get a little bit more light through the window’s when it’s sunny, I think that’s great.” 

 Premium Furnishing 

When purchasing the lighting and furniture, they were patient and creative, shopping around for what fit their vision. Knowing they wanted high-top tables, Jeana went to a store that specialized in commercial-quality game room furnishings. For the large coffee table in the lounge, she shopped at a furniture store for a dining room coffee table and had Jeremy cut the legs down. As for the couches, nothing but leather would do, and she sourced another store for it. 

“I had to look around to see who had what I needed,” Babcock says, “I kind of sourced it from all over once I had my vision.” 

Who Is It For? 

For Jeremy and Jeana, the time, energy and resources of renovating an existing shop boils down to creating an environment that’s appealing internally and externally. For their team members, there’s a level of pride that goes into working at a shop that’s worthy of an HGTV magazine center spread. For customers, it’s the comfort of being in a place that shows that it cares about the details and the customer experience. While some customers may think premium shop, premium pricing, that’s not the case, says Babcock. It’s about changing the perception of auto care and creating an environment that looks grand and attracts quality talent behind the counter and in the shop. 

“I wanted to serve people. I want them to feel comfortable, right? That’s why I did it. When you walk into a dirty shop or a shop that doesn't give you warm vibes, it's difficult. I think in this day and age our industry gets a bad rap. So anything we can do, to help people's guard go down, I think is great,” Babcock says. 

Tips for Shop Owners 

Here are a few tips from Jeana Babcock: 

• Don’t be afraid to decorate your shop with items you'd include in your home. 
• Think aesthetics and harmony when choosing paint colors and furniture. 
• Care enough about quality to do it right the first time. 
• Décor doesn’t have to be expensive. 
• Incorporate green plants for a home-like feel.
• Invest in comfortable and inviting furniture for a pleasant customer experience. 

Midwest Makeover

Business partners Jared McPike and Sherri Stock started InMotion Auto Care in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 2012. The pair met while working at a Chrysler dealership—McPike a service advisor and Stock in a managerial role. The two owners built from the ground up on land sold to them by the dealership that once employed them. 

Today, InMotion Auto Care is a 10-bay, 10,000-square-foot shop custom-built to fit seamlessly within the neighborhood in which it borders. 

Here’s what they did. 

Curb Appeal 

One key focus for McPike was making sure the shop wasn’t a large, gaudy eyesore. So when they had it designed, they made sure its color scheme and feel were on par with the community. The shop is so well designed that it fools most people. 

“A lot of people say, ‘I didn't think this was an auto repair shop.’ They (think) it was a different business because of the way it looks from the outside,” McPike says. 

Parking Pass 

A benefit to building a shop is the ability to factor in much-needed parking. While the lot McPike and Stock built on was limited in size, just like when they planned for growth in building a large shop, they also thought about parking as best they could with the space they had. He says he’s glad they carefully planned parking because it would be a challenge today given their volume if space wasn’t available. 

“We (placed) the building … in a way that would maximize as much parking up front as possible, and then also have some room in the back. When you open up you're not going to have a ton of customers coming in but our thought process was, you know, over time, we're going to probably run out of parking,” McPike says.  

Law of Attraction 

If you build it they will come. That’s the lesson from the motion picture "Field of Dreams" and it fits McPike’s story as well. For McPike, having a custom-built upscale auto repair shop isn’t just about providing his team somewhere nice to work, but attracting high-quality talent. The company recently added a couple of new service advisors whom he’s sure knew the type of look and environment InMotion Auto Care provided.  

“You've kind of have to put your money where your mouth is, you know? I think it's helped us out with getting quality technicians and quality service advisors,” McPike says. 

And even though the building is now 10 years old, he says they are adamant about cleanliness and upkeep because the shop does attract a certain caliber of customer.  

“Your standards go up, you know? I mean, if you're going to show a customer a nice building a nice interior, nice exterior, they're going to expect a higher level of service. So, our expectations obviously go up as well as far as our level of service to our employees and to our customers,” McPike says.