Line-X shop back from the ashes

Matt and Carolyn Cook's business went up in flames in the early morning hours of April 1. The shop at 1332 Colusa Avenue in Yuba City, a stone's throw from Highway 99, was where they applied Line-X bedliners on pickups and sold accessories.

"We, literally, after nine years of work, came home with only a pickup truck of stuff. That's all we were able to salvage," said Matt Cook. He estimated they lost a couple hundred thousand dollars in inventory and equipment.

Nevertheless, the husband-and-wife team decided to stay in the Line-X business.

"After something devastating like that, we had to evaluate and reassess," said Matt. "We were in business nine years, and we decided we love it and it's what we wanted to do."

Matt Cook was talking about their comeback last week in the new shop for their resurrected business, Yuba-Sutter Line-X and Accessories, in the just-completed light-industrial complex on Garden Highway between Lincoln Road and Epley Drive. The new shop opened on Oct. 15.

Matt said they've put approximately $100,000 into the new location, which was partly covered by insurance — "just enough to get us going again."

The new place is an expansive 3,000 square feet, with a large lobby and showroom area. The technical shop in the back where the spray application takes place has 14-foot-high doors, a far cry from their previous place which was in an old building with an odd configuration and plagued by parking and traffic problems.

Carolyn Cook said that because the shop door was only eight feet high in the old place they had to turn away business. "We can pretty much get anything in the backdoor now — including motor homes," she said.

The Cooks' main business is the Line-X bedliner franchise. Line-X, a leader in spray-on protective coatings, is a nationwide chain based in Santa Ana. Bedliners for pickups are the main consumer application, but the coatings can be applied to horse trailers, flatbeds, enclosed trailers and boats. Their advanced Xtra coating incorporates Kevlar technology. Colored coats with UV protection are also available.

Matt is high on the Line-X coatings. He said the product dries in three to five seconds, meaning that customers can use their vehicles' bedliners for light items like groceries on the same day they were applied and for heavy use after 24 hours. Each job takes two to three hours to complete.

He also said the Lline-X product is environmentally friendly because the spray-on coating does not use harmful VOCs (volatile organic compounds) or CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons). The coating is sprayed on the pickup bed at 160 degrees with 2,500 pounds of pressure, meaning that troublesome solvents aren't needed to atomize the substance into an aerosol spray.

Basic bedliner prices start at $365 for a compact bed, $405 for a standard short bed, and $435 for a long bed. "Over the rail" is an extra $75 and colored beds are an additional $259. They are currently giving a $25 discount as a back-in-business promotion.

As a side business, the Cooks sell and install pickup accessories such as truck caps (shells with windows), bed covers (tonneau covers), running boards, bug shields, grill guards, hitches and toolboxes. They sell the ARE and Century brands of truck caps and tonneau covers, among others.

Now residents of Browns Valley, Matt and Carolyn Cook came to Yuba-Sutter from Santa Rosa in 1984. They opened their Line-X bedliner business on Market Street in Yuba City in 1999, moving to Colusa Avenue a year later.

"This is a great community," Carolyn said. "We love it here."

Their love for the community was returned after their business was burned out.

"The community was really helpful," said Matt.

Adel Mitchell of Visual Impact Signs lent them warehouse space to store equipment while their business was without a home.

"I felt bad for them, knowing they had a devastating fire," said Mitchell. She had some extra space that she was thinking about renting out, but she allowed the Cooks, who were clients of hers, to use it.

Sherwin-Williams on Bridge Street donated paint to the Cooks. Line-X's next-door neighbor on Colusa Avenue, American Equipment Rental, let them borrow equipment to clean out the charred ruins of their shop. U-Haul of Yuba City gave them moving boxes to store what was left of their business.

A Line-X dealer in Tracy lent them spraying equipment, and another franchise going out of business in Henderson, Nev., sold the Cooks their inventory, equipment and office paraphernalia to help them out.

"People wanted to see us back in business," said Carolyn.

Added Matt: "Unless you go through something like this, you don't notice people's good hearts. People genuinely have good hearts and want to help. That was the thing that really touches the heart in all of this."

"Dealerships have gone out of their way to send us work even though their own business is slow," said Matt, referring to their relationship with car dealers in the area.

"I couldn't recommend anybody higher than Matt and Carolyn," said Paul Brown, fleet sales manager at Larry Geweke Ford in Yuba City. "They're very prompt and easy to deal with."

"Our customers are loyal," said Matt. "Farmers will buy trucks every year and bring in their trucks every year."

Unfortunately, he said, "We have a good customer base who don't know we're back."

At the former location, in an average month, they would do 40 to 50 beds, according to Matt. After the fire, now open for a month, he can't say how much business will come, especially with the poor economy.

"We're hoping this will get back to normal," Matt said.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Mike Hatamiya at 741-2400 or mhatamiya@appealdemocrat.com