Safelite AutoGlass Grows in Valley, Southern California

As part of a massive Southern California expansion seeking to capitalize on the region’s car culture, Safelite AutoGlass is opening two new stores in the greater Valley region. The Ohio-based auto glass repair and replacement company is in the process of adding 10 stores throughout Southern California, including one in Camarillo and another in Van Nuys. “It’s a huge investment,” said Clayton Frech, Safelite’s division manager for Southern California. “The Valley and the surrounding communities were arguably the most glaring hole in our store footprint.” The new stores — especially the 10,000-square-foot Van Nuys warehouse — are critical to serving Valley customers, who often had to wait a day or more for a repairman to fix their cracked windshields, said Frech. Safelite offers both mobile repairs as well as in-store fixes. “The warehouse that (currently) supports the Valley is in Pico Rivera and that is brutal having to skirt around downtown and Hollywood … and it is difficult to get glass to our customers in the Valley,” he said. The new stores will allow Valley motorists to get their cars fixed in one day. The Camarillo store opened in mid-October while the Van Nuys location, which will be both a retail center and regional warehouse, is scheduled to open in January. The San Fernando Valley currently does not have a store. As of now, the closest location is in Pasadena, Frech said. Brokers Bennard Gillison and Steve Watson of NAI Capital Inc. represented Safelite in the leases of the two Valley area stores and 14 other leases — all between five to 10 years and ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 square feet. Safelite AutoGlass, part of Safelite Group Inc., which is owned by London-based auto glass giant Belron, will also be injecting new jobs into the Valley. The Camarillo store employs seven, two of whom are new hires, the company said. The Van Nuys store and warehouse will employ 16, four of whom will be new hires. The Van Nuys warehouse will also have an inventory of 7,000 glass pieces to support the company’s presence in the Valley. Safelite identified Southern California for a five-year expansion plan because of its notorious traffic and freeway culture, which leads to more dings and cracks on windshields and windows, Frech said. This year, the company will spend about $2.5 million on the Southland expansion. Having Belron as an owner has allowed Safelite to focus on “long term” goals,” Frech said. “We’re not subject to the whims of the financial industry because of that ownership structure,” he said. And because of the expansion, Safelite’s Southern California group has seen revenue grow, even as Americans attempt to save money by holding back on some repairs. An American Automobile Association survey released in August found one quarter of motorists put off repairs and maintenance in the preceding 12 months because of the struggling economy. The Southern California division posted about $36 million in revenue last year, up from about $30 million in 2009, and the division expects to record about 45 million in 2011. Still it could have been greater. The down economy has increased the number of “do nothings” who put off repairs, Frech said. “It probably restrained some of our growth,” he said. But despite a slow economic recovery, Safelite has future plans for the Valley area. Frech said Safelite hopes to open stores in Santa Clarita and Burbank by 2013.