SALISBURY — Salisbury Motor Co., one of the oldest family-owned car dealerships in the country, has expanded its business with an express lube shop.
AutoXpress opened last week at 1501 W. Innes St.
“We’ve been in the same building since 1946, and we’ve got the best customers in world,” said General Manager Donald “Don-Don” Clement IV. “It was time to stick our necks out and try to get a new clientele.”
Salisbury Motor spent nearly four months renovating the AutoXpress building, which previously housed Precision Tune and A-1 Tire and Auto. Pudgie’s Pizza once stood on the lot.
AutoXpress is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and offers oil changes, tire rotation and other services while customers wait or by appointment. Customers can drop off their vehicle and use the shuttle service. Oil changes take about 30 minutes.
Steve Whitley will continue as service manager for both the service department at Salisbury Motor, 700 W. Innes St., and AutoXpress.
Renovations at AutoXpress include a new shop floor, shop lifts, bathroom floor, computers, office furniture and paint inside and out. The customer lounge has been redecorated, and overgrown bushes and debris removed. New landscaping will go in around the property, which Salisbury Motor leases.
Seven employees work two shifts at the quick lube. The shop will offer special services by appointment only, including window tinting, paintless dent removal, bumper painting and headlight cleaning.
“We wanted to be able to offer a variety of car services to our community without having to drive to each different place or go to a body shop,” Clement said.
Founded in 1919, Salisbury Motor was originally located in the 100 block of West Innes Street across from the Salisbury Post. In 1946, the dealership constructed and moved into its present two-story building. Four generations of the Clement family have been involved with the business.

Southern States drive brings in two and half tons of food
The 2012 Southern States Holiday Food Drive brought in nearly two and a half tons of canned, boxed and other stable food items for food banks and charitable organizations in 36 cities and towns in the company’s south and mid-Atlantic regions.
The drive was held Nov. 12 through Dec. 16, with collections delivered to various community organizations and groups for distribution to the needy.
“We are very grateful to our customers for their generosity and to our retail employees for the efforts they put in to designing the collection boxes and holiday displays,” said Steve Patterson, Southern States’ vice president for marketing and communications. “This is our second year for the Holiday Food Drive, and once again, our stores really got behind it. It’s been a great experience for everyone involved, and a lot of deserving families had a more joyful holiday season because of this effort. We look forward to doing it again next year.”

Roseborough named Caregiver of Month
Tangy Roseborough has been awarded the Caregiver of the month for December at Home Instead Senior Care.
Home Instead Senior Care has offices in Concord, Lexington and Salisbury. Visit www.homeinstead.com for more information.

Sweetbay official moving to Salisbury with Delhaize changes
As part of Delhaize’s recent reorganization of U.S. executive ranks, Mike Vail was moved from leader of the Sweetbay brand to become a supply chain executive for Delhaize America at the Food Lion headquarters in Salisbury.
Brad Wise, the former chief of human resources for Delhaize America, became the new president of the Hannaford and Sweetbay brands — working from the Hannaford headquarters in Maine.
Sweetbay Supermarket is closing 33 underperforming grocery stores from its total fleet of 105 stores in Florida. The Tampa Tribune reported the closings will results in about 2,000 layoffs.
The paper also reported Sweetbay rents all its store locations, so refilling the space with a new tenant will be up to the landlord or property owner.
Sweetbay is among grocery brands owned by Delhaize, which operates 3,400 stores in 11 countries. In the United States, that includes 1,500 stores under the brands Food Lion, Harvey’s, Bottom Dollar, Reid’s and Hannaford.
The “Sweetbay” brand has only been around since the mid-2000s, when the parent company started dropping the name “Kash N’ Karry” from Florida stores. Sweetbay worked to compete in part by launching new private-label store brand “My Essentials” in 2011 with items like milk, eggs, sugar and bread matched to the lowest price offered by rivals.
EnergyUnited names Hicks manager of energy planning

STATESVILLE — Bradley Hicks has been named EnergyUnited’s new manager of energy planning and portfolio management.
Hicks, a licensed professional engineer, joined the cooperative in January and will oversee the planning, organizing, developing and implementation of programs in the area of planning for the wholesale power supply and regulatory needs of EnergyUnited, along with procurement of both traditional and renewable energy portfolios.
“I look forward to fine-tuning the system and devoting my time and resources to special projects here at EnergyUnited,” Hicks said.
Hicks is a graduate of Tennessee Technological University and received a master’s degree in business administration from Aspen University in Denver. He has spent 12 years working with electric cooperatives and is a licensed master electrician, mechanical contractor and general contractor in South Carolina.
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