Morris 4x4 Center is a pure-play Jeep parts and accessories Internet retailer—which accounts for 98% of all sales—and is housed in a 32,000-sq.-ft. facility in Pompano Beach, Florida, with 70 employees.
Entrepreneur and owner of Tom’s 4x4 Superstore, Tom Pickett, shares what he believes to be the reason for his success. In June 2010, Pickett opened a Jeep and off-road parts supplier store. Despite being in the midst of a recession, Pickett nearly doubled his sales every year since opening the store.
“I was about 26 years old at that time and didn’t know very much about the area,” laughed Batanian. “I soon found out that within a block there were at least a hundred mechanics. There are really no customers in El Monte. They’re all mechanics and workers here. You can’t even do an oil change on a car because everyone is doing his own.”
Nevertheless, Batanian has managed to build an extremely successful wheel and tire business over the years—so successful that he now has two additional stores in the greater Southern California area, one in Palmdale and another in Camarillo. In fact, he envisions a chain of 10 to 15 outlets throughout the Southland within the next few years.