Family

In 1968, Mark Frostrom, Sr., was operating a backyard car repair business with his father, Robert Frostrom, Sr., when he met his wife, Diane. Her new VW Bug wouldn’t start, and her parents called the Frostroms to take a look. Life was different then.

 

“Dad worked on people’s VW’s in the evenings after he got off work from Bob Lawrence VW,” remembers Christy Frostrom, Mark’s sister and partner in the current family business, Frostrom Subaru. “My earliest memories of the business are of pumping the brake pedal for Dad as he bled the brakes on a customer’s car and standing on a 2x4 as extra weight while he leveraged a VW engine back in.”

 

Everyone pitched in. That’s just the way things were.

 

The Frostrom family business started in 1970 with good old-fashioned industry experience, integrity and hard work. Community support fueled their efforts, and in a short time, they went from a backyard garage repair business to a full-fledged car dealership, Frostrom & Sons.  

 

“Early on, the goal for the business was to grow into a big dealership; perhaps with several locations. As the years went by, the focus shifted to what you could do for the people you came into contact with – employees who depend on you for their livelihood and job security; tourists whose vacations have been delayed with breakdowns; regular customers who depend on your honesty and integrity with their transportation dilemmas; and charitable organizations who depend on locally-owned small businessmen to support their efforts to make this a better place,” said Christy. And so it was to be that one location would be enough – in fact it would be just right.  

 

“When we were growing up, when the new model year came out, people flocked to the showrooms with excitement. The purchase of a new car was a big event,” she said.

 

In a world where text messaging and email have replaced most business and personal communication, at least one thing hasn’t changed – the purchase of a new car is still an exciting event.

 

The Frostroms take a personal approach to what they do, from helping a customer select the perfect car and arranging financing to putting the license plates on the vehicle. They work in their family business on a daily basis – and they support other local community businesses.

 

“I believe in buying local, supporting the tri-state area – always have,” says Diane. “It’s important to support the people you attend church with, the people you socialize with and the people who you are in civic organizations with. People have gotten away from any personalization in business.” Although other options in buying may seem easier to some consumers, they miss the long term benefits of the local buy. First and foremost, they lose the accountability that goes along with buying from people – not just from businesses.

 

A host of reasons exist for investing in your community by supporting local businesses – with benefits ranging from creating more local jobs and putting your tax dollars to good use to reducing the environmental impact of business, which, ironically enough is a focus of corporate Subaru – another part of Frostrom Subaru that seems to be a natural fit.

 

The Frostroms are proud to be a part of Subaru’s corporate focus on the environment. Christy said that “Subaru offers the most fuel-efficient line of all-wheel drive vehicles in America, and most of their models are available in a ‘PZEV’ (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle) version.” She also noted that “in 2004, Subaru’s assembly plant in Lafayette, Indiana, became the first manufacturing facility in the U.S. to reach zero landfill status.” And to top it off, “Subaru’s efforts are completely voluntarily. They are a corporation with an environmental conscience and are determined to make a difference,” Christy explained.

 

Your Name:

Your Email:

Your Comment: