After five years of long hours and countless customers, the hard work for High Tech Tint Plus is paying off.
But for their anniversary it will pay off for the community.
The automotive accessories company in Barrie is celebrating five years of being in business in its 423 Welham Rd., location.
Brad Middel is the owner of High Tech. While he has come a long way from when he started out, he is always glad to remember where he started.
“Oh, I’d definitely rather be working in the back than doing all the managerial stuff,” said Middel. “I love how far we’ve come with this as a business and all, but for sure I like heading back there and getting my hands dirty when I can.”
Middel, his wife Susan and one other employee handle all the work for the company, which deals in making your car look great when driving around Barrie’s waterfront or the local highways and they handle a wide array of customers.
“Mainly, we’re handling window tinting, paint protection film, remote starters, electronics and that kind of stuff,” said Middel. “Our customer base really varies from 16-year-old kids with their first car to older and more experienced drivers with their AMG Mercedes, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, all those types of cars.
"We really see anyone and everyone," he added. "We had a guy in last week come in complaining about the UV rays burning his arms when he drove, so we put the tint on the windows. This was an 80-year-old gentleman.”
Middel, like most other business owners, started off making money for someone else before realizing he wanted to do something more for him and his family with his passion for vehicles.
“I’ve always been in the industry and always loved cars,” said Middel. “I started off doing my electronics licence for cars and worked for a couple different companies until I realized that I was tired of working for other people and me and my wife decided to start this place and here we are.”
With development happening all over the city and the area of Welham Road remaining virtually unchanged for years, one would think the business owner would be concerned with big-box stores and malls pulling people away from the industrial area. But that is hardly the case.
“In all honesty, this road and area gets tons of traffic, actually a lot more traffic than we expected which is great and a lot of our business is just walk-in,” said Middel. “We have customers who are regulars and only trust us to handle their vehicles, but more than that they trust us enough to tell their family and friends and that’s what we take pride in most of all.”
On Saturday, Sept. 22, Middel and the folks at High Tech are celebrating five years of being in business. While a celebration could have been a private dinner out or the day off, the day will instead benefit Autism Ontario. High Tech will host a kid-friendly party with food and drink, raffles, prizes and more.
Middel says that it’s the community that made them a success and this is their way of giving back.
“Basically, for us it’s a big five-year anniversary, but we wanted to give back to our community, which is something we do whenever we can,” said Middel. “We have friends and family with autistic children, so we reached wanted to do something for the organization that’s assists them."
They’ll have 50/50 draws, face painting for the kids, bouncy castles, Dominos Pizza will be serving up lunch and they just got confirmation that the mayor will be here, too.
"It’s going to be a fun day and hopefully a great awareness day as well.”
The free celebration will take place at High Tech Tint Plus at 423 Welham Rd., on Saturday, Sept. 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
