In a move to increase their visibility during the summer months, New York-based K-S Auto capitalized on the communal dynamism of the performance market four years ago by putting on cruises every Wednesday evening.
“We have got three and a half acres here,” says owner Keith Samrany. “Everybody that works here chips in. When the weather’s nice, we’ll bring in anywhere from 125 to 175 cars. [The cruise] turns out to be one of our busiest days, traffic-wise and dollar-wise.”
During the cruise they’ll have a 50/50 contest, raffles, a DJ — a regular customer of theirs — and grilled hot dogs and sausages for sale. “It’s gotten to where people are coming here to eat,” laughs Samrany. “They’re coming from 50 miles away; I even get customers from Canada that come down. It gets bigger every year. For the money spent, it’s probably one of the best promotional things we’ve ever done. I feel it just increases our chances to do more business. Plus, we do it because we like it.”
The inspiration for the cruise actually came from Samrany’s customers, who urged him to do it. “My property faces the Niagara River, so it’s a real nice setting for a cruise,” he explains. Originally, the cruises started at 6 p.m. and ran to around 9 p.m., but further nudging from the customers moved the start time up to 5 p.m. Samrany has created a mailing list of cruisers by having them sign in when they attend, a core group with which he can stay in contact. The next step, Samrany explains, is to do an annual car show.
Stay big to stay competitive
With the advent of giant catalog companies like Summit and Jegs, many rod shops succumbed or had to find new ways to stay competitive. Samrany’s initial solution was to go big — real big: 10,000 sq. feet of showroom space, to be exact.
“Had I not [put up this building six years ago], I probably could not have survived,” reports Samrany. “I had more control over my costs; I didn’t have a landlord increasing my rent every couple of years…It’s not always how much business you do, but how much you spend doing it. It’s not easy; you’ve just got to keep an eye on what’s going on and try to stay competitive.”
It was certainly a lot easier back in the halcyon days of 1968, the year Samrany took over a small parts store located in the western New York town of Tonawanda. After rechristening it with his initials, Samrany began developing it into a performance shop. “I ran it as a general parts store long enough to enable me to purchase performance and aftermarket parts,” he explains. “That was my goal right from the start; this was just a vehicle to get started.”
Today, his super store caters to all forms of street performance, from his primary market of classic street rods and muscle cars to the trendier sport compact and truck markets. The massive showroom displays everything from bright work to crate motors to wheels and tires. They also keep an adequate inventory of standard maintenance items like oil and filters for customers who want to service their daily drivers. An additional 4,000 sq. feet in the back is used for storage and a service center.
Samrany notes that factory crate motors have become a real hot ticket item. “It runs in streaks, but that’s a good market for us. During the summer, we like to keep two or three engines on the floor. You don’t get anything on the crate motors profit-wise, however, the accessories and add-ons can equal twice what the engine was worth. Brackets, pulleys, transmissions, the driveshaft all the way back — the possibilities are endless when a guy’s buying a crate engine, and that’s where our counterpeople come into play.”
Also coming into play is a “virtual” version of the K-S store. “We do a fair amount of Internet sales,” reports Samrany, “and we’re in the process of setting up a store on eBay, which should open up another market.”
The Vital Stats
Years in business: 36
Growth plans: Expanding the service section
Number of employees: 8
Wholesale/retail ratio: 15/85
Snapshot of K-S Auto: After Keith Samrany bought a small auto parts store in Tonawanda, N.Y., in 1968, he eventually converted it into a niche rod shop.
Affiliation: Middle Atlantic
Competition: Performance catalog companies
Facility size: 14,000 sq. feet
