We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mark Carrillo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mark, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I had been selling antique automotive parts for over a decade, and been a collector of old American items for years, so decided to tie them together. And since early American music is tied into the hot rod world, I decided to offer a music shop designed for my customer base. Once Covid hit in 2020, and I realized almost all of the products offered to us were imported I decided to then pivot to offering all things 1928-60 America via my website.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Ultimately, this venture has become bigger on my website than the shop could offer. I sell of course the 1928-48 Ford Passenger & 1928-56 Pickup Parts, but anything for your garage, home, bar, wardrobe and even your children as I continuously keep adding vintage toys as well to grumpsgarage.com. I have even added a mini town called Grumpsville that is used to hold all of the items as well as YouTube videos promoting my shop and the greatest era in my opinion.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Ultimately my wife helped me with this. She showed me that people had to see what I was selling, and that ‘Grump’ (me) was a real person. Just continue to show yourself, or your product, on a steady basis. And if possible show how unique your shop really is.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
As I mentioned previously, I have always continued to evolve (pivot). But the ultimate pivot came on the backside of the Covid closure. I pivoted to make my shop much more open to most while staying true to its era.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.grumpsgarage.com
- Instagram: grumpsgarage
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GrumpsGarage
- Twitter: @GrumpsGarage
- Youtube: @GrumpsGarageSo-Cal
- Other: TikTok: @grumpsgarage