Ron Jellis said when he and business partner Dan Febroliello founded Auto World of Conway 20 years ago, everyone thought they were crazy.
“We had this half-acre lot in this middle of nowhere, on Highway 90,” Jellis said. “We only had five cars, so we had to park our personal cars in front of the store to make it look like we had more inventory.”
Today, the business has grown to over five acres of vehicles, along with another “classic” car lot on Highway 501. What was once a two-person operation has grown to 58 employees, selling cars worldwide and offering a wide range of repair and maintenance services.
Jellis, a Conway resident and Coastal Carolina University graduate, attributes much of his company’s success to God: “God blesses us in everything we do. We’ve been seven times seventy blessings.”
Jellis said he and Febroliello instilled a great customer service attitude in all employees, which has resulted in a lot of “word of mouth” referral business. Jellis added that the company has been blessed with many great employees over the years.
What was once a remote location a few miles outside of Conway is now part of one of the busiest roads in Horry County.
“When we first moved here, this was all our budget was,” Jellis said, “and now urban sprawl is staring us in the face.”
Jellis said he and Febroliello, who is retiring at the end of 2023, made the decision together to reinvest everything in the business for the first five years. The same plan was followed for the next two five-year periods and now business is booming like never before.
Eight years ago, they took over a small parcel on Highway 501 as an expansion of their original lot.
“But customers were confused, so we turned it into one of our biggest passions: classic and specialty cars,” he said.
Gellis said when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he found a huge market for shipping cars overseas and now the business is both local and global.