The familiar cursive script of Bears Auto Hospital will soon leave Wollongong streets for good in a move Bears’ boss likened to the demise of the corner store.
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The Wollongong-based smash repair business, founded in 1986 by Spiro “Bear” Lozenkovski, has been sold to national chain Gemini.
The Lozenkovski family saw the writing on the wall when Gemini came sniffing. The Sydney-based chain was expanding out of its metropolitan bases, giving Bears a choice: accept the behemoth’s offer of a buyout, or try and take Gemini on.
Bears general manager Steve Lozenkovski said the smash repair market was about to change drastically.
“It’s an ever-evolving industry,” he said. “The company that’s bought it out is more like the Coles and Woollies are moving into town and the little corner stores are on their way out.”
“We’ve decided to sell out before we became a major competitor to someone else coming into town.
“It’s interesting times. They’re a publicly listed company, they’ve currently got 100 stores – and that’s only in the last six years. They’re growing quite aggressively.
“We thought it was a good time to step sideways and concentrate on other areas of the industry.”
Bears has grown to include six stores – four in the Illawarra, plus stores in Orange and Bathurst, with more than 70 employees
Mr Lozenkovski said part of the deal was that all staff would be kept on, and keep their entitlements when they shifted over to their new employer – which happened on Monday.
“They’ve all stayed on,” Mr Lozenkovski.
“We’ve got employees who have been with us for over 20 years. We’ve grown our business as a family business ethic. We try to treat people like an individual not a number.
“We’re still a family business. The Bears signage and Bears cars will be gone unfortunately – but the Bears company will still be around … working on the national scale in hail repairs.”
Gemini is owned by the ASX-listed AMA group, which with the Bears purchase has clocked up 100 stores nationwide.
Bears will retain its hail repair business, which “pops up” in areas where hailstorms have damaged cars. At present they are busy in Victoria.
AMA’s expansion has also included the recent takeover of 4WD and SUV parts and accessories company Automotive Solutions Group.
And before long Bears’ ownership may soon be even further removed: AMA has itself been offered $530 million for its panelbeating businesses by the Manhattan-based Blackstone private equity group.