American Boat Center celebrates half-century milestone
For 50 years, American Boat Center has been keeping the community on the water.
“It’s pretty exciting,” ABC general manager Ryan Jones said about the family-owned-and-operated business. “I’ve been helping with the business since the early ’90s,” he said. “It goes by fast. I think we all enjoy what we do a lot, so it makes it fun to come to work.
“We’re in it for the long haul,” he added.
“My whole family works here,” Jones said. That includes his parents, Steve, the president, and Susan Moore; his sister, Courtney Kinney, who’s over operations; and Jones.
“I think [the milestone] hit us this year, ‘Wow, it’s been 50 years,” Jones said. “We weren’t necessarily trying to get to 50 years, but we try to do a good job, service our customers really well, be happy and run a good business, but it snuck up on us.”
The secret to their longevity has been taking care of their customers and employees, according to Jones.
“That’s always been a big thing with us is service,” he said. “Taking care of people after they make a purchase, so after you buy the boat, we do everything after that.”
Additionally, Jones said a lot of ABC’s employees have been with the company for a long time.
“I think for any business who can say they have employees with them for 40-plus years is really a pretty big feat,” Jones said.
ABC first opened Aug. 4, 1976, when Steve Moore started it at a Papermill Drive location, working on boats.
“[Moore] was in the automotive machine shop business and, as the story has it, he loved boats,” Jones said. “Just coming from a service background, he saw the need for more boat service, helping people keep their boats running.”
That maintenance service eventually transitioned into sales: boats, accessories, parts and water sports gear.
“It just kept growing,” Jones added. “So, it’s been 50 years of everything boating.”
The business has been at 10250 Cogdill Road in Knoxville since 1999.
“It is one of the larger facilities in the Southeast,” he added.
It sells Barletta pontoon boats, Nautique and Centurion surf and wakeboard boats and Sportsman center console boats.
“We really focus on kind of higher-end quality boats,” Jones said. “Most of the stuff we do is in the luxury category brands.
“Typically, they tend to have less issues,” he explained. “Boats, in general, have gotten really expensive.
“We try to focus on stuff that’s higher quality, requires maybe a little less maintenance,” Jones said. “Dependability is a big thing with us.
“Most of our business is family-based, about 99 percent,” he added. “You want to make sure you’re on the water. You try to find those brands that give you that experience without worrying about getting something fixed.”
ABC is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday; from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; and closed Sunday. For more information, call 865-777-2628.
