"People walk in and their eyes light up instantly, and then they beeline straight toward the Orbital display. People love our re-fitted store!"

Dan Berry, Cartronics

Ok folks, if snagging the Cover of Mobile Electronics isn't enough proof of the success of using AVIDWORX systems, then we're not sure what else to tell you.... Have a look for yourself. Here's the cover-story from the June Mobile Electronics issue.

Cartronics Cover Story Mobile Electronics Magazine, June 2005

The WOW Factor
by John Wood

With two big-box stores and a high-end chain moving in practically next door, a quiet, single-store operation could be reduced to obscurity. But when it comes to displays and custom work, Cartronics is anything but quiet. Look inside.

It’s why people cruise “car audio row” every weekend in downtown Santa Rosa, just north of San Francisco. It’s why no less than nine car audio retailers are perched along this four-mile stretch like pit row on a NASCAR track. It’s why American Graffiti was shot here. The tints. The whumps. The drops. You want something done to your car? Check out Santa Rosa Avenue.

And if you want to be wowed, check out Cartronics. At night. They wouldn’t mind if you came around when they were open, of curse, but don’t miss the place at night. Onlookers press against the shop’s windows and ogle the customized multi-hued lights that glow like a Vegas suite designed for Martian high rollers.

“It’s ridiculously nice,” said owner Dan Berry, who is nearing completion of his four-year-long remodeling project. “I wanted something different from any display I had ever seen. People are in disbelief when the walk in.”

Cartronics was already a landmark in Sonoma County before Berry entered the scene in the late ‘90’s. He was a serious car enthusiast who had won numerous competitions with his 1988 Mazda RX-7. In 1991 he so impressed a judge at the International Auto Sound Competition Association that the guy offered him a job. Berry worked for him for three and a half years before enrolling at Arizona State University. He worked for a number of stereo shops until he graduated. With a business degree under his arm, he returned to Santa Rosa and got a job with Cartronics. Two years later, in 1999, he asked the owner if he had ever considered selling the place. It so happened the guy was thinking of doing just that – and practically overnight Berry owned a car shop. It was a two-store business at the time. Berry sold one of the outlets and focused his attention on the flagship store.

Looking back, he believes his path into the business was the only way to do it. “If you’re in a saturated, heavily competitive market like Santa Rosa,” he said, “you have to start with an established, reputable store. To do a fresh start-up would have been murder.”

On paper, the location could not have been worse. Competitors surround Cartronics on three sides. Best Buy, Good Guys, Circuit City, and Magnoia Hi-Fi (a high-end subsidiary of Best Buy) are within three miles. There are also a couple of independents of varying sizes around town.

There's much more to this story folks, but we'll have to type it in later. Time's a tickin' y'know.

And just like all our other clients, Dan is happy to share his story with you - just connect with Marcel, and he'll hook you up with Dan Berry ASAP. Yeppers.