AM MAGAZINE SHELL - Australian Automotive Aftermarket Magazine

NEWS
RARE SPARES MARKS 20 YEARS
Rare Spares, founded in 1974 by Les McVeigh, celebrated a milestone for its Rare Spares Bayswater store in October by
reaching its 20th year of business.
The Bayswater store offers a
unique service in the automotive
aftermarket, supplying original
and reproduction restoration spare
parts for older model Holdens and
Fords.
Mr McVeigh still owns and
runs the company with his
business partners of more than 30
years: David Ryan, David Rayner
and Neal Videan.
They started with the simple
shared love for cars, a dream and
a shed in the suburb of Reservoir
35 years ago growing into
arguably the most recognised
name for car parts in the
Australian
automotive
aftermarket.
In 1989 an opportunity to
expand the company into the
eastern suburbs of Melbourne
presented itself.
Rare Spares knew that this
area was underserviced at the
time and a presence was essential
to grow Rare Spares in the
Bayswater area.
Like many companies at the
time, the store faced tough
periods as the Australian economy
was forced into recession.
Although the four partners
originally had very limited
business experience, their love for
cars, the desire and drive to
succeed, and the friendship that
resonates through the company
led to the store’s and ultimately
the company’s success.
Local Mayor Peter Gurr joined
Rare Spares Bayswater staff and
management on their day of
celebration recognising 20 years
of business within the City of
Maroondah.
(From left to right) Lucas Rivenell, Andrew Mangan, Scott Reed,
Steve Brown (Store Manager), Mayor Peter Gurr and Joe Xuereb
(Retail Operations Manager).
“It’s always a pleasure to visit
local businesses and I’d like to
congratulate your business on 20
years of business in the area,” Cr
Gurr said.
“It’s obvious that customer
service is a high priority within the
store and that is reflected in the
success of this business.”
Mr McVeigh said looking back
at the company, Rare Spares
Bayswater was a massive catalyst
in the growth of the overall
company.
“We had just begun a vigorous
manufacturing program both
locally and abroad and needed to
expand our reach throughout
Victoria,” he said.
“The Bayswater Store allowed
us to do that and paved the way
for a successful Australia-wide
distributor network.”
From humble beginnings Rare
Spares has grown into a multimillion
dollar company, home to
55 employees in its five
Melbourne locations and a
distribution network in every state
and territory in Australia and New
Zealand.
The company maintains a
humility of its origins and the
belief that a company’s success is
attributed to the efforts and
contributions of its employees.
Rare Spares Retail Operations
Manager, Joe Xuereb, said: “We
place a lot of emphasis in
developing and maintaining an
encouraging relationship with our
team and have strong policies
relating to the well being of all
staff members, including staff
promotion from within, wherever
possible.”
Rare Spares maintains an
enviable record of having a high
number of employees who have
been with the company for more
than 10, 15 and 25 years, not to
mention multiple family ties
(unrelated to the business
partners) throughout the
company, siblings, offspring and
spouses.
This includes Mr McVeigh’s
daughter Melissa Bernabo and
David Ryan Jnr, the son of David
Ryan Snr, and both now sit on the
Board as Associate Directors of
the company.
Bob Brown, an original
employee at Rare Spares
Bayswater, is still employed within
Rare Spares.
After a long stint managing the
Bayswater store he now looks after
the Rare Spares Roxburgh Park
‘mega store’ while his son Steve
has worked for the company over
the past 10 years and is now the
current Store Manager of Rare
Spares Bayswater.
14 AU T O M O T I V E A F T E R M A R K E T M AG A Z I N E D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 www.aaaa.com.au