By: J. Anderson

About two seconds is all it takes for a first-time visitor to Super Autobacs to figure out that this auto accessories store is different.

For one thing, there's a full-sized, genuine racecar fastened upside-down to the entryway ceiling. For another, there's a bigger selection of auto-related merchandise than they ever knew existed - let alone, seen in once place.

That aspect of what makes Super Autobacs unique in the United States is as obvious as the fancy wheels and paint on a super-customized fast car. But two things that aren't so obvious set Super Autobacs apart, according to a 19-year veteran of the automotive aftermarket parts and accessories industry.

First is Super Autobacs' extreme propensity to listen to its employees and quickly act on good suggestions, said Operations Manager Larry Blake, among the store's many staff members who helped prepare Super Autobacs for its grand opening four years ago and have worked there ever since.

Second is Autobacs' policy of reacting immediately to demands of the local market and adjusting its product range and services accordingly. This practice in particular, which depends in good part on the employee input mentioned above, presents a profound challenge to competitors, said Blake. He should know - he worked for those competitors for almost 16 years before joining Super Autobacs four-and a-half years ago. The store's 59-year-old parent company, Autobacs Seven Co. Ltd., operates nearly 600 stores in Japan.

"I go over to Japan frequently, and I see it in those stores there - each store is given the flexibility to react to change faster than any chain store here could ever do," he said. "I came from the old auto store mentality of the '80s, and if you walked into a store in California or Texas or anywhere else in the country, you would see the exact same merchandise on the aisles' end-cap displays."

Autobacs' policy, on the other hand, has always been to encourage stores to change based on regional markets.

"Back in the '80s, traditional American auto accessories stores were catering to some high-performance markets, but with

Stan the influx of small trucks, they weren't able to change fast enough to bring in new customers, even though the demand for muscle car items was dying off,"Blake said. "And then, when the 'tuner' cars came in with all the accessories price-pointed to a specific demographic, American stores were now two phases behind because they stayed with their traditional approach."

Employees have a key role in helping store managers determine which way to fine-tune the inventory selection and presentation. Each one has a notebook in which to write any ideas or customer comments that strike them as important: at the end of the day, they give the notebooks to the store managers, who in turn conduct weekly meetings with the staff to talk about ideas and observations.

Feedback from employees is always considered, and management often implements suggestions within weeks. For example, employees in the store's Motorsports Department recently asked if they could move the aisles in order to interact better with customers. Two weeks later, the aisles were moved; Blake was touched at the sight of one of the hourly employees using his off time to meticulously clean shelves so the relocated display would look its best.

"He had that much pride of ownership in the department," Blake said.

The fast response time is a key component in keeping good employees and growing the customer base - according to Toshio Kitamura, president and chief executive officer of Autobacs USA, more than half of customers are repeat customers, and employees have become friends with many of them. "Our employees don't just feel like they have a voice, they do have a voice," Blake explained. "They feel more appreciated knowing that their words and input mean something."

Blake added that at other companies, it takes six months to a year of bureaucratic processing for a good suggestion from an employee to inspire change: "Companies lose good workers that way," he said. "But at our store, we still have about 40 percent of the same staff and hourly workers that we had four years ago. Such low employee turnover is unusual in this industry."

From its pool of dedicated entry-level and hourly employees, Super Autobacs has found and promoted many of its most talented managers.

"Our employees are our greatest asset and are treated with much respect," Kitamura said. "This is what impacted me when I began working at an Autobacs store in Japan over 10 years ago. This company asks for feedback and opinions from the front-line sales staff, and those opinions count. My employees are all automobile enthusiasts at heart, like I am, and as our philosophy states, we are all creating a utopia for car enthusiasts, transforming our customers into car fans."