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The new place is about three miles


southwest of the old shop. When one of his staff left before the move, he had to change his plan of keeping the old shop open with two staff there and two at the new one. “We started making improvements in March. We closed the business from Monday through Thursday (in the last week of April).” Colleagues told him that transfer- ring everything so smoothly was “amazing.” Kowanetz’s tendency to “take so long


to make decisions” meant he always had time to plan. “I bought everything we needed a month ahead of time. The only thing we didn’t have was plants and a dis- penser for a certain type of soap.” The new space was the result of even


longer-term interest on his part. Eight to 10 years ago, the new venue was also a car audio shop, which meant it was already laid out the way Kowanetz had envisioned. His old shop was 1,800 total square feet; the new one is 4,100. The sales floor went from 350 to 1,000 square feet, fabrication from 300 to 400, instal- lation from 2,000 to 3,000, and inventory from a 200-square-foot space to a 400-square-foot actual room with a lock- ing door. There are now two bathrooms instead of one, both with showers. Greg Fuchs of CarTunz, which provides car audio sales, installation, and service in Williston, North Dakota, also believes in planning ahead; he had his new building a year before he actually moved into it.


Responding to Boom Times For CarTunz, moving to new space two years ago was the logical result of being in “an economy that is so busy, we out- grew our needs,” said Fuchs. “Our small town has just exploded. Our customer base grew; there was demand because there were more people and there was more money here. Vehicles got bigger and taller, so our space was stacked up and overcrowded. The bay could only hold two vehicles; now we can accommodate four, including semis and campers, so we don’t have to work (outdoors) in the cold.” CarTunz moved from a 100x200- square-foot lot to a 50x100-square-foot space with room to expand in the future. The new building is about 5,000 square feet, with 2,000 square feet upstairs for


»Te old CarTunz building, prior to the move in 2012.


» Te new CarTunz install bay, epoxied with tint.


storage that will become a media room and office, compared to the previous 2,800–3,000. The move had its challenges. “We’re on the same street, about a half-mile to the north, but it was still a logistical night- mare,” said Fuchs. “We’re in a flight zone for the airport and we can’t change the physical shape of the business. Because the area is in a boom, it was hard to get some materials.”


Controlling Costs Moving usually involves two major


costs—fixing up the new space and the move itself—but there are ways to reduce that aspect. Pepsin’s move from the larger to the smaller space cost about $1,000; going back to the larger shop cost about $9,000 for materials. He expects next year’s move to be about $10,000 to $15,000. He had started renovation before leaving the larger space and found those improve- ments still in place when he returned. “We did all the construction ourselves,” he said. “This was an empty ware- house with no walls, electrical outlets or wires. We had to make everything.” His planned new space is a body shop, so it


already has a full spray booth; he plans to build a new display space and “custom- er-friendly” area. Pepsin negotiated several free months’ rent, which meant the shop could stay open while organizing the move. Friends from the automotive business helped out. “We got together in the evenings for about two weeks, and the staff did moving tasks between working on vehicles or after hours. Luckily, everyone volunteered.” Since they were relocating within the same property, Pepsin and his staff could handle most of the move themselves. “We carried everything ourselves as time per- mitted.” He did rent a 20-foot box truck for larger, heavier items. The CarTunz move was expensive: $300,000 to $350,000. Fuchs sold his old building and put “every bit of profit” into renovating the new one. To help control costs, he invested in a forklift because he had been getting freight deliveries and already had pallets. “We used the pallets and shrink-wrapped everything, then used a flatbed to transport the pallets.” Customers and employees—he has four full-time and three part-time— helped reduce costs by offering their own vehicles to help. The process still


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