Atlanta-area based Classic Collision Inc. has become the 10th largest independent MSO in the country after opening location nos. 21 and 22.
Classic Collision’s owner, Manfred Kammerer, announced new locations in Augusta, Ga., a 70,000-sq.-ft. former Toyota dealership, and a 10,000-sq.-ft. location in Sugar Hill, Ga.
“Augusta is a thriving marketplace, and we saw a great opportunity to expand and serve this market,” said Scott Britt, director of IT for Classic Collision. “We use many tools to determine where to put our next locations. What we determined, among other things, was a growing population in the Augusta area, plus the U.S. Army is building a new Cyber Command that will bring thousands of jobs to the area. This confirmed that Augusta was a market we wanted to be in. We also plan to add another Augusta location by next spring as well.
“Most of our locations aren’t quite as large as the new 70,000-sq.-ft. Augusta location. Our average size is 40,000 sq. ft. But given our projected annual revenue, we have more than enough room for 30 repair bays in this former dealership. This location was originally set up for repairing cars anyway, so the buildout wasn’t as involved as a greenfield would have been.”
The new Augusta location will employ 25 to 30 people, and Sugar Hill will employ 10. Classic Collision utilizes many different resources for identifying job candidates and is in the process of researching and building an apprenticeship system in-house. Classic’s intent is to connect with the local Department of Labor’s Career One-Stop Centers and also work with veterans’ representatives to find and hire the best possible candidates. In addition to the second location in Augusta that is coming in the next year, Classic Collision will expand out of state for the first time and open a location in Birmingham, Ala.
“We are in the process of training a location manager right now for our Birmingham store,” said Britt. “The workforce of our future is out there, and we will be competing as hard for people as we do for vehicles to repair.”
Classic Collision’s locations are in Atlanta (Buckhead and Brookhaven, Buford Highway), Alpharetta, Augusta, Marietta (Airport Road and Cobb Parkway), Chamblee, Duluth (Gwinnett Place), Kennesaw, Lawrenceville, Lilburn-Stone Mountain, McDonough, Morrow, Rome, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Union City, Douglasville, Cumming, Gainesville and Sugar Hill, Ga.
