Retail News - Audio Works Balances Product Delays with Customer Satisfaction

WORDS BY LAURA KEMMERER

Like many other industry businesses, Newark, Delaware-based Audio Works, which has been in business for over 20 years, has been striving to strike a healthy balance between dealing with product delays while also bringing in customers. Since the pandemic started, the vehicles they’ve been working on have remained largely the same, but there has been an uptick in add-on sales.

According to shop owner Darren Thomas, Audio Works aims to cater to as many customers as possible. Thomas noted that customers used to come in and get the “bare bones minimum, but now it seems like everyone wants to buy a lot of things. It’s usually packages. Whether it be a lift kit with wheels and tires, […] to go along with lighting upgrades, customers are spending more money.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the shop’s customer base has largely stayed the same except for this additional spending. Thomas added that a change in customer purchasing habits has led to a huge uptick in back-up cameras. Business for remote starts has held consistent due to the chilly winter season in the Northeast. Thomas estimated that Audio Works does five back-up cameras a day, and work for the Drone add-on for remote starts has doubled since last year. Tires and lift kits have also helped the shop flourish.

Audio Works has had to contend with product delays, with some material still on backorder from March 2020, but the big problem the shop is having right now is getting in radios, speakers and Tonneau covers. To deal with these delays, the shop has been telling customers that they’ll be the first ones to have these products when they come in.

12-Volt Shop Provides Water Bottles for Local School

WORDS BY ROSA SOPHIA

Pinnacle Autosound in Lake City, Fla. recently donated water bottles to a local school called Pathways Academy, according to owner Joey Knapp.

When Knapp’s wife happened to meet the school’s principal, they struck up a conversation. “My wife works for a nonprofit [Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches],” he explained, adding that the nonprofit helps support at-risk kids. “They discussed how hydration can affect kids’ attitudes and behaviors. The kids at this school were having problems. They’re in portables, and because of COVID they have to go outside to fill up bottles. They can’t drink out of the water fountains. The principal of the school wanted to have water bottles made.”

Knapp and his wife offered their assistance, and had bottles made with the school’s logo on the side. “We were excited to partner with Pathways Academy to help provide them with water bottles for their students,” wrote Knapp on his business’s Facebook page. “We enjoyed working with Mrs. Murphy to help fill the needs of her students.”

NVS Audio Dives Further into Motorcycle Business with $10,000 Build

WORDS BY LAURA KEMMERER

NVS Audio, a high-end custom car audio and fabrication shop located in Roselle, New Jersey, recently worked on a $10,000 audio upgrade for a brand-new 2021 TReX motorcycle, marking a unique threshold as the shop’s motorcycle business continues to expand. According to business owner Carlos Ramirez, NVS handles five-plus bikes a week.

With a four-week turnaround, the shop upgraded the motorcycle’s battery to a lithium battery, with Stinger Electronics’ wiring and interconnects, speakers by Ground Zero Audio, SounDigital amplifiers, custom pods by Etune and LED lighting by OPT7. Ramirez went on to note they’re currently working on four more.

The TReX project also posed its own unique challenges, however. “[What made this build challenging] was the fact that [equipment] had to go into the nose of the vehicle,” Ramirez said. “The motorcycle doesn’t have a radio, so everything had to be hidden in the nose of the motorcycle, and we had the front clip for the motorcycle removed. We had to build a custom rack that’s serviceable and wouldn’t get in the way of the pedal.”

Ramirez added that this project required all custom fabrication. The shop had to fabricate all the speakers and speaker locations. “The customer was willing to pay whatever we asked as long as it looked factory,” Ramirez said. “We did custom headrest pods, custom pods on the side panels [and] built custom kick panel pods. We built custom subwoofer enclosures that were hidden in the nose. We built a custom amp rack. Everything was custom built—they don’t make any parts for this. Everything had to be fabricated.”

NVS Audio, winner of Best Online Presence at KnowledgeFest.Live, draws in this kind of work through social media, largely Instagram and YouTube. The owner of the TReX reached out to NVS through the shop’s Instagram page, and after some discussion, they agreed on a price.

Another TReX the shop is working on as of this writing was delivered directly from the dealership. Currently, NVS has 15 motorcycles they’re working on, with one or two of these vehicles being big-ticket items arriving every week. According to Ramirez, NVS is booked out through April or May.