Automotive Art Antigua

Automotive Art Antigua the Caribbean’s largest Auto-Care retailer of car enhancement products and services. With its corporate headquarters in Barbados, Art Antigua currently trades in over 24 countries, inclusive of 15 Automotive Art franchise stores in nine countries throughout the Caribbean.

Founded in August 1990, Automotive Art was the brainchild of partners Dereck Foster and Hugh Blades, who recognized change was afoot in the refinish market in Barbados and the wider Caribbean. New polyurethane and two-stage technologies were emerging on the international market which the partners felt would revolutionize the automotive refinish market, and create some lucrative business opportunities for a company with the right vision and positioning in the marketplace.

Armed with the conviction of their vision, the partners capitalized the new company with every bit of personal equity they could lay their hands on, and Automotive Art was born with the objective of bringing this new technology to the Caribbean. It was around this time that Harris Paints, a large regional manufacturer of decorative coatings, became interested in what the partners were trying to achieve, and were so convinced in the potential of the new company, that they took an equity stake in the business. This was a huge benefit to the new business, since Harris brought to the table not only the real estate where the embryonic business could commence operations, but a network of distribution contacts that would allow the company to quickly penetrate the regional market with its product offering.