Each month, we feature a St. Albert business in our Focus on Business Newsletter to help support our business community and get the word out about all of the great businesses we have here!
Claudia caught up with Brad Bonik from Karbz Performance & Sound Inc. to chat about doing business in St. Albert...
Why did you start your business in St. Albert?
There was a need for a business like Karbz. There are no aftermarket performance specialists in The City of St.Albert. I grew up in Barrhead with the urge to fix things and make them better. I worked at the local electronics shop installing remote car starter and stereos When I moved to edmonton I became an electrician but never lost the interest of working on vehicles. I had friends in St.Albert and was always attracted to the city of St.Albert. I would visit often and always found myself looking for a good place to shop for performance parts. There was a couple of large box stores, but the selection was weak to say the least.
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L - R, Iain Bolton, Brad Bonik (owner), Diesel (pup) |
I always wanted to be my own boss and started my own successful electrical company. Shortly into my new venture I realized that I loved being my own boss but I just wasn't being fullfilled with what I was doing. I dreamed of taking my hobby of building custom cars to the next level but never had I thought of making it a career. Then one day it clicked. I could do what I loved in a city that was in demand of a business that I could provide, so I began the path to open
Karbz Performance & Sound.
Who is your target market/who are your customers?
Karbz targets a wide range of customers. In the winter months our primary income is from remote car starters. This service interests all ages of people. In the summer we generally focus more on the performance end of things. This target group is generally middle aged males. We do however have a very strong female customer base as they too share the same common interest in modifying their vehicles. We create vehicles that potray the styling and the personality of their owners, much like the clothes they wear. We have built vehicles for local celebrities and professional athletes from hotrods to exotics. Our customers are very passionate about their vehicles and very loyal to us.
What makes your buisness different or stand out from others?
Karbz is not a muffler shop or a lubeshop. We are very different from even your local service shop. We offer people the oppertunity to create something different. Our motto is "Making vehicle dreams come true." We take an idea and work with our customers to create their own personal creation. Some people are more than happy with what they can buy from the dealership floor. But even then you might
not get all the features you were looking for. Like heated seats, rear DVD players for the kids or a remote car starter. Maybe you need just a little more power to pull your new trailer. That's where we come in. We give customers the extras they need to suit their lives. Then of course there are those who want to be completely different -they want a vehicle that can't be bought at the dealership. We have built numerous vehicles from the ground up. All for different reasons, some to be different, some to go really fast and some for their jobs.
Do you incorporate technology into your buisness?
Karbz does have it's own website www.karbz.ca and also it's own facebook page We use them both to stay current in our market. Technology in our buisness changes very rapidly. Looking back at the first car built to what you can buy today is amazing. Because of that we must be continually evolving. Some of my favorite projects are ones that we can incorperate new technology and styling into older vehicles. Technology has allowed us to expand into different speacialities and also make our job easier. One asset of technology that Karbz currently utilizes is in our remote car starters. All new vehicles come equipped with immobilizer chips or transponders. These are antitheft devices designed by the automobile industry to stop vehicle theft. In the past we needed to inventory a lot of product to bypass these systems. Almost every vehicle is different. Today we've incorporated a web based system that allows us to program these modules in store. We only need to stock one device that we can essentially use to program nearly every make and model of vehicle. Because of this our inventory is kept to a minimum and the modules are also reusable and not specific to one vehicle.
What is your favorite thing about St. Albert?
St.Albert is a beautful city. It carries a very proud reputation and I feel fortunate to be a part of that. It has grown exponentially over the years but never lost the small town feel which all too often big cities do.
I look forward to many more years of sucess and growth in St.Albert.
Karbz Performance & Sound Inc.
10 Rowland Cres.
St. Albert Alberta
Phone: 780.418.8871
Email: karbz@telus.net
Hours: 9am-5pm Mon.-Fri.
9am-2pm Sat.
www.karbz.ca
