June 2012 Gem Lake Newsletter - Laserfiche WebLink

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Gem Lake News Page 3 of 6 Vera Auto Sales Thrives in Gem Lake (continued from page 1) "We specialize mostly in German and Japanese cars, high-end and also fuel efficient vehicles," says Giorgi. "I don't want to buy or sell anything that I wouldn't want to own myself." The company bought the facilities that once comprised the old HCO gas station and car wash, as well as the adjacent lot that now houses a new restaurant. After extensive renovations they opened up almost two years ago with the mission of selling only high quality used vehicles. "So far we have been growing at a pace that my wife Sally and I are comfortable with. We really want to keep everything a manageable size." In addition to managing the buying and selling of cars for Vera, Giorgi also exports cars and car parts to his native country of Georgia. (Located northeast of Turkey and south across the Caucasian Mountains from Russia.) Sally manages the administrative aspects of the business such as the accounting and the interaction with their tenants. Sally has a law degree from Hamline University and practiced law for six years. She is still a licensed attorney but now divides her time between running the businesses and taking care of their two children, Luca (15 months) and Sophie (almost 4). Giorgi came to the United States in 1998 as an exchange student hoping to pursue an education in agriculture from the University of Minnesota. Instead, he was sent as a worker to a dairy farm in Milaca, Minnesota. After a series of similar farm placements, Giorgi took the $200 in his pocket and set off for the big city he knew must be somewhere nearby. With no map and no knowledge of English, he made it to Minneapolis a few days later. He wasn't sure what to think of this strange new place he had landed. Eventually, Giorgi graduated from the International Program he came here to attend at the University of Minnesota. He later went on to obtain a Master's Degree from Hamline University. He met his wife at a masquerade ball thrown for Giorgi's graduation class in February of 2000. He had already been accepted into a graduate program at Hamline University. Sally lived nearby and the two started dating. After nearly seven years of courtship, the couple decided they needed to be together, no matter what country. They were married on New Year's Eve 2006 and again in fall of 2007. (Once in Minnesota and later in Georgia.) According to Sally, "The idea to open a car dealership grew organically after Giorgi developed the hobby of buying a car, fixing it in our garage in his spare time and then selling it to buy another. He would challenge himself a bit more each time, buying more and a more difficult vehicle to fix. Eventually, we decided to invest some money and make a business. It's worked out well and once we got our sea legs, we found that we were quite successful in our earlier Maplewood location." "During our first few years in business we watched the former HCO gas station site with interest," said Sally. " When we finally decided to expand and purchase our own piece of property, the site was still for sale. We felt that we were destined to own it, but looked far and wide for many months before finally settling on Gem Lake as our destination. Of great consideration was the fact that the entire site was too large for our small business. We jumped in with both feet anyway, saying why not become landlords too. And so, became SGS Holdings." (Named for Sally, Giorgi and Sophie, Luca wasn't around yet.) Sally and Giorgi act as landlords for the restaurant and the mechanics shop next door, which is another new enterprise for the couple.