-
- Daily Southtown Article
- Tuesday, March 26,
2002
- Business Section
-
- Pothole Luck
- Crestwood-based Mr.
Hubcap an alternative to dealers, junkyards
-
- Making a Go: Mr.
Hubcap
-
- By Howard Ludwig
Business writer
David and Jimmy Kikoen are among the few people who actually
appreciate potholes.
Every one represents a potential customer for the brothers, owners
of Crestwood-based Mr. Hubcap and Wheels, who have mixed feeling
about road repairs.
-
- "It figures, we bought
this business after they (State of Illinois) repaired every major
interstate in Chicago," David Kikoen said, referring to
the resurfacing of interstates 55 and 294.
-
- Kikoen purchased the 27-year-old
Mr. Hubcap on March 1, 2000, when it was in Des Plaines, selling
hubcaps exclusively to auto body shops and rental car dealers.
-
- Kikoen had a vision for Mr.
Hubcap and moved the business on Sept. 1 into a storefront at
13616 Cicero Ave. Rather than catering only to body shops and
rental agencies, Mr. Hubcap would seek to attract individual
customers to its 2,800-square-foot store, he said.
-
- "We took our experience
from retail, and we put a retail front on this business,"
Kikoen said.
- The brothers operated Major
Motor Supply Co., a Chicago-based auto parts dealership, until
1997, when Memphis, Tenn.-based Parts Plus bought the company.
-
- Body shops continue to be
the mainstay for Mr. Hubcap, accounting for 65 percent of sales,
but sales from walk-in customers are increasing each month, Jimmy
Kikoen said.
-
- "This location is such
a great location for us. People drive by here every day to go
to work and a lot of people stop by," David Kikoen said.
-
- Mr. Hubcap stocks thousands
of hubcaps, wheels and wheel covers. Much of the stock is purchased
from junkyards. Most of the used hubcaps are sent to reconditioning
shops, where they are stripped, sanded and painted.
-
- "The thing that is nice
about (reconditioned hubcaps) is they are all the original equipment,"
David Kikoen said.
-
- Mr. Hubcap also keeps some
stock in used condition. Known as "roadkill," the worn
hubcaps are big sellers for customers with older cars.
-
- Used and reconditioned hubcaps
are less expensive than new hubcaps that are sold at dealerships,
David Kikoen said. Buying hubcaps from Mr. Hubcap is also less
time-consuming than searching through a junkyard for one, he
said.
-
- The most common style of
hubcap requested by the store's customers are from Ford Windstar
minivans and Dodge Stratus cars, David Kikoen said.
-
- The shop traditionally is
busiest during the winter, when weather-related fender-benders
are more common, and the early spring when potholes are prevalent.
-
- Jimmy Kikoen works full time
at the store, while David is a full-time software salesman and
pitches in on weekends and evenings.
-
- "Jimmy runs the business,"
David said. "The only way I would have bought this business
is if Jimmy were to run it."
-
- Jimmy put his own spin on
the business last year at Christmas time, offering to make clocks
out of hubcaps. The made-to-order hubcap clocks sold for $49.95
and featured a hubcap as the face of the clock.
-
- "My brother saw them
somewhere and told me. I said, 'what a great idea,'" Jimmy
said.
-
- Howard Ludwig may be reached
at hludwig@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5954.
-
- This article is taken from
the Daily Southtown Website and was in print March
26, 2002.
|