Sterling Autobody Centers is planning on closing three of
its shops over the next month. One shop is located in Morrow, Ga., and the
other two are located in Bedford, Ohio, and Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Nick Notte, president of Sterling Autobody, said the
decision will strengthen the organization as a whole.
"In Sterling’s infancy, stores were put in places
without a lot of market research completed prior to doing so. As a result,
several Sterling stores have been closed over the years, as repair volume
suffered in those markets," said Notte. "While stores were closed, others were opened as we became more
‘scientific’ about placing stores in areas that made sense for our business.
Bedford and Cleveland Heights were legacy stores that were in poor locations
for us.
"It’s unfortunate that we had to close them, impacting the lives of our
employees and their families, but these are business decisions made to
strengthen our business. While we’re closing those stores, we plan to open
another site in the Chicago area and have others in the pipeline. Whenever we
close a store, we try to accommodate employees who might fit into the staff of
another store nearby. These considerations were applied in the Ohio store
closing situation."
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