By Aleasha Sandley, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
Name of business: Auto Expressions
Location: 5330 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.; 442-0513
Owner: Scott Axline. Axline owns the shop and the strip mall attached to it that has up to 4,000 square feet available for rent. He started the auto accessories business after his United Auto Workers plant closed.
Opened: Auto Expressions opened in early 2007 in a building behind the current shop. When the building burned down on Oct. 28, 2008, Axline made plans to rebuild. After operating the business’ office out of a trailer for several months, Axline moved into his newly built shop in August. The shop only was closed for about a month after the fire. “We have a lot of customers, and most of these products have warranties, so we didn’t want to close. We had a lot of people counting on us.”
Employees: 5, including full- and part-time
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday
Products: Auto Expressions offers car and truck accessories and provides repair services for insurance cases. Its products include lifetime-warrantied window tinting, remote starters, keyless entries and alarm systems and truck accessories, including nerf bars, bed covers and camper shells. The business also sells wheels and tires, residential and commercial window tinting, lift/lowering kits, car audio equipment and towing accessories. The store serves as a U-Haul pick-up/drop-off point and sells minibarns and all-steel carports.
Axline hopes the business can get more into snow and ice removal for the coming winter. It offers Western and Curtis snow plows and ice removal equipment and services all brands of plows. Axline also plans to start a placement service for snow plow drivers who are looking for work or need more trucks.
In the owner’s words: Axline owns nine and a half acres of land near the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 53rd Street. He hopes to fill the strip mall currently attached to Auto Expressions and eventually build more buildings like it on his land, all while growing his sales at Auto Expressions. “The location is outstanding,” he said. “This corridor is the next bunch of development.”
