Like a lot of body shop owners today, Sal Sardina has felt the effects of a struggling economy. But he recently came up with an interesting and attention-getting way to improve his shop’s curb appeal and hopefully grab more customers.

Sardina, who owns Rolf’s Airport Auto Body in Freedom, Calif., commissioned a local artist to paint an 8-foot by 50-foot ocean scene on the front of his building. 

"The auto body industry like many others at this time is struggling," Sardina says. "From the information I can gather, the industry in our area is down 20 percent or more. Instead of sitting around waiting for things to get better, I decided to make a few changes."

In addition to the mural, Sardina has painted his building, repaved his parking lot, installed new carpets in the office and also installed a fish tank in the reception area – all within the last six months.

The mural idea came from Sardina’s feeling that his shop wasn’t getting noticed.

"The reason we decided to go with a mural came from my customers," Sardina says. "About 70 percent of our business is repeat or referral from friends or relatives. On many occasions, customers said things like, ‘I’ve been driving by here every day for 10 years and I’ve never noticed you were here.’"

The ocean mural depicts  a pier in the middle extending up towards the
horizon. On either side of the pier is the ocean filled with boats, birds, a surfer
and cliffs.

Sardina says he was inspired to do an ocean scene as a memory to his father, who emigrated from Sicily in 1941 and was a commercial fisherman out of Monterey for most of his life. Sardina fished with his father from the
Santa Cruz Islands in Southern California to Bristol Bay in Alaska. He now hopes his biggest catch will be a boost in business.