Craig's Collision Centre had their sign come down on Aug. 28, a signal of the business shutting down. (Facebook/Craig Clark)

By Mat Barrett

Craig's Collision Centre

Craig’s Collision Centre closes after 27 years in Melfort

Aug 31, 2020 | 2:07 PM

After 27 years in Melfort, Craig’s Collision Centre has closed its doors for good.

Owner Craig Clark has been in the industry for 47 years overall and said one of the major reasons for closing doors is the change in the industry including more expenses, and also in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Clark said that between March and May, he noticed much less traffic in Melfort, and less traffic would mean less collisions, and less work for him.

Clark made “Craigs Collision Centre” a family business, and the idea to open his own shop came from his father.

“He worked for a business for 45 years, same business,” Clark told northeastNOW. “And basically ended up with nothing when it was all said and done, so I decided to open a store myself and give it a shot. He wasn’t around when I opened, but he was the primary reason why I started.”

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He added that through the years, his staff and customers are what he is going to remember most.

“Every vehicle I have ever worked on, I have a memory of almost,” Clark said.

And those memories of those vehicles are big for Clark.

“I know people by vehicles, not by name,” he laughed. “As bad as that sounds.”

Clark said through the years, he noticed the price of things skyrocketing, whether it be parts, staff, and cars in general, things cost much more.

In regards to his competition, Clark said he looks at them as his opposition, saying that they want to set the standard for quality. That standard for quality showed in Clark’s business as he said one thing he noticed when first opening, was that customers wanted cleanliness from their body shop. As a result, Craig’s Collision Centre would do a full detailing for every car that had work done to it.

As for what’s next for Clark, he said there are still some loose ends to tie up including seling some equipment, but he’s going to take some time to reflect and clear his head before deciding what to do next.

Clark said while he’s the only shop to close for now, he said with some changes from SGI coming, there could be more.

“You’re going to see a lot of smaller shops disappearing here by next April,” he said. “That’s the deadline for everybody to tool up and have all of their stuff in place to do SGI work. They’ve set a new standard that is unattainable for us and a lot of other shops, so you could see as much as 40 per cent of the industry disappearing.”

Back in March of 2019, the Saskatchewan Government put new standards in place for SGI work including tools and computer programming for newer vehicles. They have until April to meet those training and equipment standards.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6