Canada's Tint Leader
Allan Starkman had always wanted
to get his car windows tinted. A friend of his, who worked
for a company that specialized in professional tinting of
windows in office buildings, got him a roll of tint-film.
He
used the film to tint his car windows and soon had requests
from people to do their car windows.
Thus,
Tint King® of California Inc. was born in the basement
of Mr. Starkman’s apartment building.
The
name, says Mr. Starkman, has nothing to do with the company’s
roots. He picked the California designation because it conjures
up images of sun, shade, speed and ‘cool’ vehicles.
He
started all this in late 1979 when he was 24 years old. Today,
just 23 years later, Tint King® is recognized as the industry
leader when it comes to post-assembly tinting and car accessories.
Not
only is there a distinct attractive look to cars whose windows
are tinted, but tinting also serves a useful purpose, claims
Mr. Starkman.
"It
started because I wanted tinted windows on my car, but after
I did it there were a lot of people coming up to me asking
me where I had it done." Explains Mr. Starkman. "They liked
the way it looked and today there are still a lot of people
who get their car-windows tinted because it looks nice." |
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"But
it does a lot more than that: it helps your car stay cooler
inside when it is exposed to sunlight, it helps reduce glare
(especially on sunny, winter days) and some people buy it
because it helps hide whatever valuables they may have in
their car." |
Mr.
Starkman says there have been companies who have tried to
cash in on his success, but they have never stayed around
long enough to take his business away.
The
reason, says Mr. Starkman, is because they have tried to copy
him and his product instead of trying to grab a share of the
market. The original Tint King® location was on Eddystone
Ave. In North York, but today Tint King® operates of out
of 13 locations across Canada from Winnipeg to Quebec, and
even opened a Tint King® franchise in costa rica in 1994
where business took off like wildfire. |
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The ‘world headquarters’ as Mr. Starkman refers to it is located
in Richmond Hill (Toronto) ON Canada, and serves as the base
from which Mr. Starkman operates his business.
Although
90 per cent of his business is retail, he does do contract
work. He does window-tinting for buildings, including many
automotive dealerships and has done some fleet work (like
Metropolitan Police surveillance vans, unmarked police cars’
rear windows, to better hide radar equipment, and others). |
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He has
also begun to diversify over the years. Today, Tint King®
carries a wide supply of accessories like auto masks (nose bras),
alarm systems, armor oil (rust inhibitor), California shine
(a process that keeps your car looking like it just came out
of the factory, for the rest of its life), sunroofs, spoilers,
ground-effects accessories and rear-window louvres. |
Tint
King® also boasts a wide range of truck accessories, like
running boards, roll bars, bed liners and cargo covers.
One automotive
dealership in the Toronto area offers a package to its customers
called the ‘Tint King®’ package which adds window tinting,
California shine and other Tint King® accessories to a
new car purchase. |
| Still other
dealerships in the area use Mr. Starkman’s company for customizing
new cars. For example, a customer may like everything about
a new car except that it doesn't’t have tinted windows; rather
than order a new car, which can take weeks, he’ll have Tint
King® tint the windows in a matter of hours. |
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| Business
is so good, Mr. Starkman is looking for quick expansion either
through tintking auto world outlets, tintking mobile home
and office window tinting, or piggybacking his operation through
existing ally businesses, and is hoping to expand globaly.
Meanwhile,
Mr. Starkman is happy to bask in the success that has come
to the company that grew out of his basement more than 2 decades
ago to become, as the slogan reads, ‘The World’s Number One
Tint and Accessory Shops’.
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