‘You have to believe in it’

By Mike Manges

In 2005, Joe Ramsay was turning wrenches at Pit Stop Auto Repair — at the time a three-store dealership headquartered in Venice, Fla.

“I was a general service technician — changing tires and changing oil,” he says. “I always teased management that I was so bad at that, they would have to put me in the office!”

Sixteen years later, Ramsay is “the office.”

As Pit Stop’s owner and president, he operates a string of seven stores, starting in the greater Sarasota, Fla., area and stretching south to Fort Myers. (An eighth Pit Stop store will open this month.)

Plans to expand into other parts of Florida — and beyond — are in the works.

“It’s been a great couple of years,” says Ramsay, age 38. “It’s been exciting. It’s been nerve-wracking at times. But overall, it’s been good.”

The south Florida market is ultra-competitive, says Ramsay. “We have chains like Tire Kingdom. We have Bridgestone — both Firestone (outlets) and Tires Plus stores. Sometimes they’re almost next door to each other.

“We also have the Monro group with Tire Choice. We have Pep Boys. There are a lot of chains and it seems like there are always more” entering the area.

Pit Stop competes with other established, family-owned independents, too.

“And we have competitors who are working out of storage units, charging 1980s prices,” he says.

The general economy in southwest Florida “is booming.” Residential construction, in particular, has been robust.

“They’re building houses faster than they probably should.”

Other than construction, there’s “very little traditional industry” in the region, according to Ramsay.

“We’re a service industry market. We’re heavily reliant on tourism. We’re heavily reliant on retirees. We’re heavily reliant on snowbirds — especially at our island location and (others) that are close to the water.”

“An island location?” Ramsay has heard that question on more than one occasion.

Pit Stop has a store on what locals call “Venice Island,” a section of the mainland connected by bridges built across a man-made intercoastal waterway.

Another Pit Stop location is located in Venice, near the coast.

The two stores’ customers are radically different, says Ramsay.

“Our Venice stores are three quarters of a mile apart on the same

road. But one is on the island on one side of the bridge and the other is on the mainland on the other side of the bridge.

“On one side, we’re working on high-end Jaguars and BMWs and on the other side, we’re working on rusted-out pickup trucks,” he explains.

“You would be surprised at how people on the island don’t want to deal with the mainland people and people on the mainland who say, ‘I just don’t have enough money to buy tires on the island.’”

Other Pit Stop locations are “out by the water,” too, says Ramsay.

“Our Fort Myers store is only three blocks from the water. Those (stores) are the most seasonal.”

Ramsay admits that finding affordable real estate in growing areas is “tough” at the moment.