The offers Rick Continenza and Klaudio Sugar heard from both their customers and competitors weren’t exactly expected.

That they received such offers, however, speaks volumes about the partners and their business, Town Center Automotive.

Continenza and Sugar took possession last July of a vacant building, the former J.D. Byrider location at 29824 Euclid Ave. in Wickliffe. When they did, the immediate task was a substantial renovation.

FROM HOME PAGE > Walls were torn down and new ones added. A new roof was put on, new drainage and lifts installed, new floors put down. Family members were recruited and pitched in to help with construction and painting.

When the partners told their customers they were moving from the Wickliffe location they had called home for the previous 23 years, the consensus response was, “What can we do to help?”

When the actual move took place and Town Center couldn’t work on cars for a couple of weeks, at least six local competitors came through with similar sentiments, Continenza said.

“They offered us a bay lift,” he said. “They offered to do the work for us, at cost, just to satisfy our customers. There were some who offered us their equipment to help us move from one building to the other. We got tremendous support.”

The reputation that garners such support, and the fact that Sugar and Continenza made a substantial investment in Wickliffe, helped Town Center Automotive earn the Wickliffe Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2005 Business of the Year award.

The company will be honored at the chamber’s annual meeting on March 28 at the Wickliffe Italian and American Club, James Catering.

The company is without question a Wickliffe business, with loyal customers that span three generations of local families. And Continenza and Sugar are a pair of Wickliffe guys.

Continenza grew up in the city, and the new Town Center building is practically in the shadow of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, where he attended grade school. Sugar’s parents, like Continenza’s mother, live in Wickliffe, and the pair have supportd the local schools, Little League baseball and football and the Wickliffe marching band.

“I think it’s fantastic how they’ve invested in the community,” said Steve Skaggs, vice president of the Wickliffe chamber. They really try to add to the community.”

So it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that when the lease was set to expire at their former building and the partners began searching for a new one to purchase, it was a Wickliffe site that became the target.

When city officials realized Town Center could be part of a significant planned restoration of the Euclid Avenue business corridor, Sugar said, the city was on board with the company’s plans.

“They didn’t want a typical auto repair shop,” Sugar said. “People think of junk cars laying around, and parts. We tried to get away from that and make it as professional as any other profession would be. Neat. Clean.”

That it is, and part of the sparking new building houses another Wickliffe business – Enterprise Rent-a-Car, which also moved from another location in the city.

Continenza said the building was built with Town Center’s customers in mind. The partners didn’t cut costs, making sure the waiting area was comfortable and the shop area conductive to quick service, he said.

But also in mind was the fact Town Center could be an example of sorts for other small businesses, as the city considers economic development and safety improvements to Euclid Avenue.

“Hopefully, this is one step toward the revitalization, along with what the city is doing,” Continenza said.

To contact Town Center Automotive, call (440) 943-6500.

Related page: Award Night Photos

Wickliff Italian and American Club Home