For those of you who could handle reading some positive news, check out the Hill Billy Golf Carts story in today’s Ventura County Star. This is our freshest PR for our newest PR client.
Article ran in Ventura County Star.
By Allison Bruce
Just a few weeks after losing nearly everything in an early morning fire, a Ventura company that sells and services golf carts and motorized golf caddies was up and running in a new location.
After numerous inspections, the fire’s cause is still undetermined. The only causes ruled out were earthquake and lightning, said Peter Miller, who co-owns Hill Billy Golf Carts with Robin Gardner.
The fire melted parts, destroyed carts for sale and in the shop for service, and ruined the building off Ventura Avenue to the point of being unusable. Afterward, the owners tried to figure out how to get the mostly online operation going again as soon as possible.
A burned building didn’t stop demand. The day of the fire, a customer pulled into the lot with a cracked golf cart wheel and wanted to make a 1 p.m. tee time. They were able to make a quick repair, despite the fire damage.
Most local customers know about the fire and understand the challenges, but online customers expect business as usual when buying a motorized golf caddy.
And aside from some shipping delays, it has been.
The building burned on a Thursday, March 26. “Over the weekend, we decided to set up camp in the parking lot,” Gardner said .
He brought his circa 1950s trailer out to the location and set it up as a makeshift office, along with two storage containers and a portable toilet behind the burned building. On that following Monday, five new golf carts arrived.
Employees took caddies home with them to assemble, and the new shipment of golf carts was stored among neighbors and in Miller’s garage.
Neighbors along Ventura Avenue helped out by offering phones, parking lots and lunches, Miller said.
By the following Thursday, Hill Billy was again assembling and shipping goods.
But after seeing the extent of the damage — Miller estimated it was from $750,000 to $1 million for the building and property — the owners realized that a temporary location would have to be used for at least a year or two.
They found a site along Thompson Boulevard, with plenty of passing traffic. Within 48 hours, they worked out a two-year lease, approved it with the insurance company and obtained the keys to the building.
“We’ve moved into a building half the size with half the space, but we’re going to make it work,” Miller said.
The building on Ventura Avenue was about 7,200 square feet. The new location is about 3,800 square feet.
Now, Miller and Gardner are assembling furniture and making plans for the new showroom in the front of the building at 1450 E. Thompson Blvd.
There are reminders of the fire: A partially melted garbage can is in the back and there is a blackened rack of catalogs. The tools for service and repairs were destroyed in the fire, but new parts are starting to arrive and go on the shelves upstairs. New tools and equipment should follow.
Hill Billy has had strong growth since moving to Ventura in 2002. Last year, sales were up 41 percent from the previous year. As of the day of the fire, sales this year were up 11 percent. And the small staff of five is growing to six with a new hire this week.
Miller said now is an opportunity for the company to get more visibility and attention.
The company is branching out into a new line of products, with a shipment of electric bikes arriving at the end of this month.
They continue to look for new products in their golf caddy and golf cart lines, plus they are making upgrades to their computer and accounting systems.
“It’s a clean slate to start all over again,” Miller said.