Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawn Davis.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was a touring, working musician most of my life. Had record deals and publishing deals but none of them lead to the promised land I had been seeking. At 45 years old, lost and not knowing what I was going to do next, I started working for my younger brother Erik. He’s a car collector and his warehouse and cars were not being properly cared for so I set up services with vendors, had cars cared for properly, put vehicles in movies (Fast & Furious, Straight Outta Compton, etc) and started to generate some cash flow rather than my brother funding his habit for car collecting solely out of his own pocket.
Fast forward a few years and we took the private garage/lounge and turned it into a full service vehicle storage and concierge facility.
Having been involved in the automotive industry from the private collector space allowed me to understand what does a car/motorcycle enthusiast need to fully enjoy owning too many vehicles.
Although we have stayed purposely hidden for protection of our facility and the vehicles in our care, we have also created a presence in the automotive enthusiast world with our warehouse, our vehicles and our lifestyle.
The business, Autotopia, has been open for just over 1 year at this point and in that time we’ve created a successful storage and concierge business, a successful racing brand and have recently launched a YouTube channel showing our passion for vehicles…especially ones that go fast!
Has it been a smooth road?
It’s still not a smooth road. I recently asked a friend if he thought the first year or the second year of being in business was the hardest?
His reply was the first 10 years are the hardest! Some of the challenges we face are creating visibility for the company while staying hidden as privacy and discretion is a huge part of what we offer our members.
An ongoing challenge is how to up our game and constantly get better at what we do. Continue to strive to give a higher level of service to our members.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Autotopia story. Tell us more about the business.
Our primary business is vehicle storage and concierge services. We cater to collectible vehicles and their owners. There are other companies locally that do vehicle storage and services but what I believe sets us apart and above is the simple fact that we are hardcore car and motorcycle enthusiasts. We drive. We race. We do rallies. We participate in events. We are like our clients except often times we are the one bringing them deeper into the enthusiast world. That’s why we refer to them as members instead of clients. When people store vehicles with us they become part of the club. Some just want storage and related services which we gladly and impeccably handle. Some want to be part of our world. Do canyon drives or track days. Go to events and races as part of our world.
I’m most proud of the level of service we offer. We go above and beyond at every level from our storage and the impeccability of our facility to the higher levels of service handling sometime difficult tasks through our experience, knowledge and relationships.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think we’ll continue to see more facilities like ours around the world. The lifestyle of the enthusiast continues to grow and I don’t think there’s any signs of it slowing down. I don’t see more facilities as competition though because I believe there is enough business for everyone as there are so many enthusiasts.
Contact Info:
- Address: Burbank, CA
- Website: www.autotopiala.com
- Phone: (512) 439-9416
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/autotopiala
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/autotopiala
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