Owner:
Chuck Redding
Redding's Auto
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Box:
This box from Redding's Auto was the result of some major consolidation.
"We had five different boxes for years … different sizes and everything, and I just couldn't take it anymore," said owner Chuck Redding.
The three No. 4735 Matco units – 6' a piece – are designed to fit together. Which raised the question, where do you put an 18' toolbox?
"It took two days to empty the old boxes and three months to figure out where everything was," Chuck said. Then they moved a workbench to free up the wall space for their new design.
"With the two cabinets on the top, if I want another top box, I can take one of the cabinets out and replace it with another top box like at the center," Chuck said. "But we kind of like the cabinets; we have the computer on one side, and we keep a lot of the larger tools on the other side."
Chuck's distributor, Larry Moskalyk, had never sold three of the boxes as a unit.
"He told me this is the largest box in Pinellas County, Florida," Chuck said. "I said this will be the last toolbox I ever buy."
Profile:
After working at GM and dealerships in New England for a number of years, Chuck struck out on his own when he was 25 and started his St. Petersburg shop. Twenty-five years later, he's still going strong.
"There wasn't a lift in the shop," Chuck said. "We just kept putting the money back into the business and equipment, and now we've got a fully equipped shop and pretty much everything we need."
The seven-bay business does general auto repair on foreign and domestic models and employs five people.
"My son and I pretty much run it," Chuck said. "We have a strong business, strong customers, and we do real well.
"I'm happy as a clam."
