South Valley Trailers grows into a new location
One of the rules for success in business is location. Sandy and
Patrick Stone, owners of South Valley Trailers in Hollister,
understand that well.
South Valley Trailers grows into a new location
One of the rules for success in business is location. Sandy and Patrick Stone, owners of South Valley Trailers in Hollister, understand that well.
For more than a decade South Valley Trailers was a fixture at the corner of San Felipe Road and Hwy. 25. But as the Hwy. 25 bypass project gets under way, the lot is dead center through where the new road will pass.
“We’d been at our previous location 14 years so we knew the road was coming,” Patrick Stone said. “Knowing that the road would eventually go through we took the initiative and bought the property on Flynn Road three years ago.”
South Valley Trailers sells a variety of trailers, from those suited for horse travel to ones to haul landscaping supplies or other items. They generally have as many as 300 trailers in stock and have an extensive inventory of name brand products and accessories including brands such as Carson Trailer, Zieman, and Haulmark.
In fact, in 2003 Haulmark recognized South Valley Trailers for trailer sales achievement with its coveted diamond dealer sales award.
Stone and his wife were first notified about the bypass project in the spring of 2006, after they had already purchased property for a new site. If they hadn’t been insightful, Stone said they might have had trouble finding a location due to the lack of commercial properties available around the city.
“We were given lots of time to move from our previous site and both the Council of Governments (COG) and the city council helped us out with the permit process we had to go through in order to build our new facility,” Stone said. “The permit process would have been tedious and expensive otherwise, but the city made things a lot easier. They extended our deadline four times and the city was really kind about granting our extensions and allowed us ample time to get into the new facility.”
Today, the Stones have a much larger facility located at 777 Flynn Road, just a couple miles west along Hwy. 25 from their former spot. Their previous site included 2.5 acres and a 900 square-foot building. The new location features a 13,000 square-foot building on a 5-acre parcel.
With the additional space, the Stones have expanded their inventory and services to include truck accessories, trailer rentals and a welding shop. They have the ability to do repairs on site and have added an additional three jobs to the business.
“We are also going to a seven-day operation soon, meaning that we will be the only trailer business in three counties open on Sundays,” Stone said.
The only drawback that the Stones experienced from moving to their new location is pumping sewage. Since there is a moratorium in place the Stones new business could not hook up to the existing sewer system. However, when the new sewer is in place, the Stones will be able to connect.
“It was a drawback that we’re further from town,” Stone said. “But we had to do it in order to get the size and the location that we wanted.”
