BIRMINGHAM – The  Alabama Retail Association (ARA) in cooperation with the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Business today recognized 19 outstanding Alabama retailers representing 13 retail businesses as “Retailers of the Year.” The presentations were made at The Club in Birmingham during the 2011 Retail Day Luncheon. This marked the 12th presentation of the Retailer of the Year Awards since 1999.

Scott Crump, owner of Scott Crump Toyota in Jasper, earned the Silver Retailer of the Year award in the Annual Sales More Than $20 Million Category. Linda Lewis, president of Chamber of Commerce of Walker County, nominated Crump for the award.

Crumps have been selling cars in Jasper for 62 years, 40 as a Toyota dealership. Hollis and Elizabeth Crump started selling used cars in Jasper in 1947. When Hollis died in 1963, the couple’s then 16-year-old son, John, helped his mother keep the business running. “My dad and grandmother started out by selling used cars out of a trailer located in downtown Jasper,” Scott Crump wrote in his Retailer of the Year entry. When John Crump took over the business in 1971, he decided to sell Toyotas. Scott Crump started working at the dealership when he was 11, picking up litter. By the time Scott became general manager in 1999, he had worked in all aspects of the dealership. In 2005, he bought the then-20,000-square-foot dealership from his dad. In 2009, the dealership doubled in size and relocated to a 13-acre lot down the highway. The business now employs 49 and sells Toyota, Scion and pre-owned vehicles, while servicing all makes and models of automobiles, even those it doesn’t sell.

As of the end of August this year, Scott Crump Toyota was the top-selling Toyota dealership in its 14-store district. Scott Crump Toyota also has exceeded its sales goals for the year by 34.3 percent, making it the No. 1 Toyota dealership for meeting objectives in the entire 174-store South East Toyota, which includes Alabama as well as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. In 2010, the dealership ranked sixth nationally in sales efficiency. During 2010, the business also reduced monthly expenses by more than $100,000. The owner’s and dealership’s motto is “we’ll do whatever it takes,” and Crump and his staff mean it.

What most impressed the Retailer of the Year judges and Crump’s nominator though was his community involvement. “ Scott Crump is a true leader and will always play a vital role in our community through his unselfishness, hours
of volunteer service and professionalism as a retail business owner ,” Lewis said in her nomination.

Crump is chairman of the Walker/Marion County Chapter of the American Red Cross; board chairman of Equine Assisting Special Individuals, a local therapeutic riding center; and serves on the board for Walker County Outreach, which provides transitional housing and supportive services to men who are recovering from alcohol and drug dependency. He also has served as president of the PTO at T.R. Simmons Elementary School.

Just a few of the Scott Crump Toyota sponsorships include an annual Breast Cancer Crawfish Boil with another local business; the Mike Beasley Memorial Foundation, which raises money for volunteer fire departments and rescue teams that respond to incidents on Smith Lake; You Pave the Way, a local organization that raises awareness and money for special-needs children, and fishin4acure, whose mission is to find a cure for childhood cancer.

Alabama Retail Association President Rick Brown said, “Scott Crump is a retailer of the year EVERY year to his customers, employees and the citizens of Jasper and the Walker County area.”

PHOTO: ARA Chairman Jimmy Ray Smith presents Scott Crump with his Retailer of the Year award as ARA President Rick Brown looks on.

>> Full list of 2011 Retailers of the Year 

>> Previous Retailers of the Year

Media Contacts
Scott Crump, Scott Crump Toyota| 205.221.3939
Nancy Dennis, Alabama Retail Association | 334.263.5757 Ext. 101 | 800.239.5423