“We were bulging at the seams and I felt there was a need for a body shop in Middletown,” Briscoe said. “I grew up in Lemon Twp. under AK’s stacks. Middletown has always been my home.”
The new shop features state of the art equipment and two paint booths, a waiting area and an estimation bay. He said the shop can do body work and other auto work including windshields. Ron Cantrell, the company’s sales and marketing director, who worked for 18 years as claims manager for Nationwide Insurance, said he’s working to get insurance companies to list the new location on its vendor lists.
“There’s not a lot of auto body shops here which means a good growth potential, Cantrell said. “We have great visibility and easy access.”
Briscoe, who has been in the auto body business for about 30 years, also has a family background in the business as his father also owned a body shop in Middletown.
He considered locating the new shop in Monroe and Trenton, but they were not viable. Briscoe ended up working with fellow Lemon-Monroe High School alumnus Paul Sivak, who developed the property and is currently building a speculation building for another business next door to the shop.
Briscoe said the average turnaround time for a repair is two days for the state of the art facility and that the shop works with local vendors for parts and other materials. At both shops, they can work on 20 vehicles at a time.
“We have room to grow and this shop has the potential to do as much as the other store,” he said.
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