There may be a mangled car in Sydney Jackson’s future.
Jackson, 23, is the daughter of Wayne Jackson, co-owner of Collier Brothers Auto Body Company Inc., one of the oldest African American-owned and operated businesses in St. Louis.
Co-founded in March 1946 by Wayne Jackson’s grandfather, Raymond Collier Sr. and Collier’s brother Elie “Bud” Collier, the eraser of dents and repairer of fenders is preparing to celebrate 75 years in business next month, while at the same time remaining mindful of the road ahead.
Profits are intermittent and the roster of competitors has swelled since the brothers chipped in $350 each – mustering-out pay from service in the Army and Navy – to help launch the business.
The father/daughter Jacksons say discussions recently began on who will steer the company forward. Both want to see it remain in the family past the next major milestone.
“It’s always been a family business,” Sydney Jackson, taking a break from braiding her sister’s hair, said in an interview with The American. “We want to uphold that culture and the legacy that was set there by our forefathers…Ideally I would like it to stay with somebody related to the Collier Jackson lineage.”
In the segregated St. Louis of the 1940s, the only place the founders could open their business was Mill Creek Valley – an historic, largely Black neighborhood that faced the wrecking ball in the 1950s – according to the company’s website and historical reports at https://www.collierbrothersautobody.com.
Craig Collier, Elie Collier’s son and co-owner with Jackson, described the earliest incarnation of the shop as not much more than an “oversized-one car garage.” But demand and the need for more space quickly grew.
The business moved five times before landing in 1958 at 4561 Delmar Blvd. on what Wayne Jackson, 53, describes as the “Delmar Divide.” To the South, near the Central West End, home prices can eclipse $1 million and “North of us, it’s the opposite,” Jackson said.
Through the 1970s and ‘80s, business was booming, the two said, with Jackson estimating the current footprint is 13,000 square feet, about the size of a CVS location.
“I remember my dad coming down here, seeing it really full,” said Craig Collier, 56. “Back in the ‘70s, you know, you couldn’t even walk inside the shop, it was just back-to-back cars.”
Even before he slid into the driver’s seat, Craig Collier had a close-up view of the business.
“I was born into it. I’ve basically been coming down here since I was 3 years old,” Collier said, adding that at about age 11, he “started knowing that I like cars.”
“It’s always been my passion … just working on cars and making them look good.”
Collier saw the business change in “probably like the late ‘90s, early 2000s. It really wasn’t as crowded as it used to be, I guess because of … more competition.
Wayne Jackson took a more circuitous route to his destiny, including a 10-year stint with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department working with computers.
The two took over the shop officially in 1996, though the founders continued to keep an eye on things for years after that.
Even into his 70s, Raymond Collier, who died in 2014, worked “like a 50-year-old,” said Craig Collier, who took over more of his dad’s workload as Elie Collier, who died in 2015, devoted more time to ministry. Collier thinks he might emulate his uncle, adding, “I don’t know when to quit.”
Both quinquagenarians know that for them the road will end at some point and they’ve recently begun talking about who will take the wheel.
“That’s what we’re kind of in limbo about, you know,” said Wayne Jackson, father to three children, including middle-child Sydney. “They have a desire, but we haven’t mapped it all out yet. We haven’t decided what we’re doing. We’re trying to work on a succession plan.
Family business consultants said the current owners are wise to start crafting a plan before an immediate crisis forces a hasty decision.
Research from The Family Business Consulting Group found that traditionally, roughly one-third of family businesses continue from the first generation to the next (https://www.thefbcg.com), according to Drew Mendoza, senior advisor at the Chicago based company. Only about 5% make it to the fourth generation, he said.
And data from the Ohio-based Conway Center for Family Business, which provides education and support to family-owned-businesses, found that the first transition has dipped to 19% in the last five years, potentially due to Millenials shying away from the traditional family business (https://www.familybusinesscenter.com/resources/family-business-facts).
Craig Collier has no children, but he has a niece who might be interested.
Sydney Jackson, a graduating senior at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, has increasingly warmed to the idea.
These days, because the coronavirus pandemic has shuttered classrooms, Jackson is back in St. Louis, answering the phones at the auto body shop to help free her dad from office duties.
“I am not a business person,” said Jackson, who will graduate with a degree in social work. “But I don’t want to let the legacy go down … And then I am also seeing the credibility that the shop holds in the community. So I’m willing to do whatever I have to do. That’s motivating me to learn how to do all this stuff I don’t like so eventually I can do it and we can keep the business going.”
Is she sure she wants to become an owner someday?
“I’m pretty sure,” she said, pausing. “I’m like 99.7 percent sure.”