The “Disease” all Gearheads Share
“It’s a sickness. We’ve all got it. See that guy over there?” Griot points out his office window, gesturing toward a normal-looking guy strolling away from his restored VW microbus toward Griot’s retail center. The guy starts up the steps, stops, turns and stares back at the van for a long moment, like a lovesick preteen leaving his first girlfriend at the end of summer camp. “Yep,” says Griot, “He’s diseased.”
It’s like that at Griot’s Garage: a constant parade of Tacoma, WA, car nuts who live close enough to stop in for their fi x. Gearheads from everywhere else rely on the Griot’s Garage website and catalog. For 16 years, the afflicted have devoured page after page of car-pampering products. And in a world full of mind-numbingly dull catalog copy, Griot’s is a hoot to read. The meticulously detailed product information is peppered with goofy observations and the occasional rant. All of it is written by Griot and partner Mark Greene, and they laugh out loud doing it.
“We take our business very seriously, but we know we’re ultimately selling fun. That’s why people get into the hobby in the first place.”