Spotlight on SCORE Clients

Harry Brewer's Hubcaps and Wheel Covers

December 2006

SCORE has helped several people when they are thinking of buying a business. Last year we helped when a client wanted to sell his business. Harry Brewer came to SCORE in April, 2005 for help in selling the property where he had operated a service station for several years.

Harry Brewer is a Webster native who opened his gasoline service station in 1946 after serving in the Army during World War II. It was located on Empire Boulevard in Webster. He sold gasoline and did repair work on automobiles until 1989.

After closing down the gasoline pumps, he continued as Harry Brewer’s Hubcaps and Wheel Covers.

 

He did small automotive repairs and also sold a wide variety of hub caps and wheel covers. His customers were primarily individuals with occasional sales to car dealers.

He had signed an agreement to sell the station and the surrounding land about a year before he came to SCORE. Unfortunately, the soil surrounding the gasoline pumps had been contaminated by gasoline seepage over the years so that it had to be cleaned up before he could close on the sale.

The buyer had agreed, as part of the sale, to handle the clean up but it was taking much longer than Harry had expected. He came to SCORE for help in expediting the sale and closing. SCORE’s help included working with Harry’s attorney and the buyer in order to get agreement about who should be doing what in the cleanup and how the cost of the cleanup should be allocated between the buyer and the seller.

Howard Daly worked with Harry for about 18 months to help close the sale. The help involved meeting with the buyer, his attorneys, Harry’s attorney and the DEC. There were problems in getting approval of the town of Penfield for the type of business that the buyer wanted to operate in that location. There were also differences of opinion between the lawyers about the date when the decontamination of the soil had to be completed.

The property was finally sold in August, 2006.

Harry says that SCORE’s help was critical and that he felt that he always had help on his side. He says that he could come to SCORE for advice at no charge. Now that the sale has been completed, it is a big load off his back and makes it much easier to enjoy his retirement.

 

If you have an existing business or are starting a new one, consider how your company may benefit from SCORE’s counseling. Call for a free counseling appointment at one of our many locations. While you are there, ask your SCORE counselor how you might tap into our 60-plus membership knowledge bank to further address your particular business and industry concerns.