When asked about the impact of COVID-19 on his business, Mike Brickman, President of Suburban Car and Truck Repair, told us running a 20,000 square foot repair shop with 14 employees was easy to keep socially distant, but as Mike said, business just stopped, at least at first. However, his commercial customers realized and capitalized on the opportunity to get maintenance done while their cars and trucks weren’t in use. “And now that the companies are opening back up,” Mike said. “We’re seeing a lot of work.”
In Mike’s opinion, what saved his business was the Paycheck Protection Program. “In the beginning,” Mike said. “I was keeping people here. They really didn’t have anything to do, but I was keeping them here.” While keeping his employees on the payroll, Mike mentioned that having the PPP loan “helped us get just a little bit ahead to help us get through the rest of it.” As business starts to pick back up, procedures like sanitizing and distancing will continue and, as Mike predicts, will continue for a long time. “Moving forward,” Mike said, “we’re hoping to get the retail back and basically keep doing what we’ve always done,” which is their quality, honest work “for people that really have to count on their [cars and trucks].”
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