Cathy Cobb is the director of sales and marketing for Ace Valet Parking located at 1615 Airport Rd. near the Jacksonville International Airport.
WHO OWNS THE BUSINESS?
She and her family, including her husband, Harvey, her son, Edward, and her daughter-in-law, Cheryl.
WHAT DOES SHE DO?
“I market the business and try to get people in here to park their cars. I market through travel agents, the Chamber and various area councils, Women Business Owners Inc. and large companies who have a travel department.”
HOW LONG HAVE THEY OWNED IT?
10 years.
HOW HAVE THE EVENTS OF SEPT. 11 AFFECTED YOUR BUSINESS?
“Business died on Sept. 11 and has started back very slowly. Business travel is about 30 percent down, so our business has been very slow. We have increased our marketing efforts, trying different avenues of marketing to increase our visibility. We’ve added e-mail and fax marketing that we’ve never done before. We also became a trustee of the Chamber, which we had not done in the past.”
RECEIVED A LOAN DUE TO EVENTS OF SEPT. 11?
“We received a Small Business Association Disaster Relief Loan for $40,000. It is to be used for the daily operations of the business. It will be used to keep our business going due to the lack of revenues directly related to what happened Sept. 11. It is a 30-year loan and has to be repaid.”
WHY DID YOU APPLY FOR A LOAN?
“We were not in danger of losing our business, but we knew the funds were available to people who were directly affected by Sept. 11. We knew it would allow us to keep our employees and help us through these difficult times. I think it will get better. The growth is here in Jacksonville and it will definitely get better.”
BEFORE OWNING LOT?
“We owned a car rental company, Ace Rental Car, for two years.”
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO OPEN A PARKING LOT AT THE AIRPORT?
“We leased space here at this parking lot to operate our car rental business and the parking business became available so we decided to buy it. We did operate them simultaneously up until 1994 and then we closed the car rental to focus on the airport parking business.”
HOW MANY SPACES?
750 parking spaces.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO PARK THERE?
$4 a day plus tax.
BIRTHPLACE
Shreveport, La. but she was raised in Dallas.
MOVED TO JACKSONVILLE?
1998.
FAMILY
She has been married to Harvey for 43 years. She has three grandchildren James, 17, Kyle, 15 and Elise, 2.
RESIDES
Northwest Nassau County.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
She is a member of five Area Councils and Women Business Owners.
CHURCH
Our Redeemer Lutheran.
HOBBIES
She likes to garden, read and spend time with her grandchildren.
FAVORITES
Her favorite movie is “Steel Magnolias” because it reminds of where she was born. Her favorite book is “Savannah,” by Eugenia Price. When traveling, her favorite place to visit is Nashville and when dining out, she enjoys The Wine Cellar.
—by Michele Newbern Gillis