Installers, Retailers of 2013 Named by ME Magazine

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Best of 2013 Car Audio

The Mobile Electronics Retailers Association (MERA) announced the Installers and Retailers of the year for 2012-2013 on Monday evening during the KnowledgeFest trade show.

The top Installer of the year was named as Jason Kranitz of Kingpin Car & Marine Audio, Wilsonville, OR.  Also a new award for Trusted Tech of the Year went to Steve Ledford of Area 41 Customs, Kennesaw, GA.

The top 4 Retailers of the year were named as Handcrafted Car Audio, Mesa, AZ (Jon Kowanetz); Extreme Audio, Mechanicsville, VA (Mike Bartells); Sound Warehouse Salt Lake City, UT (Dean and Jennifer Magnussen) and Sonus Car Audio of Clarksville, Clarksville, TN (Micah Williams).

Shown above were all the award winners honored by MERA including Vendor of the year Directed.  Also awards went to Memphis Car Audio as the top Autosound vendor, Directed as the top vendor for Security & Convenience; PAC for OEM integraton, and Metra for Installation Accessories.

Honored as Rep of the year was Momentum Marketing, Houston, TX.  Expediter of the year was Auto Action, Kenilworth, NJ; and Sales Rep of the year, Ira Gold of Impact Sales & Marketing.

Congratulations to all!

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8 Comments

  1. I personally would like to thank ME-MAG and MERA for continuing to even HAVE the awards. It is something they make no profit from but continue to do so every year. They deserve a little respect for at least doing them. Regardless of whether anyone likes the outcome.

  2. I don’t really understand your point of view Dave. Because I write for the magazine then that means I only won because Solomon and I are buddies? Does that really make sense in your mind or do you think maybe you are speaking an opinion based on half truths? Do you know what is involved in winning this contest? Do you know what it really means to be Retailer of the Year?
    Instead of being negative when our industry needs so much positive, wouldn’t it be better if you asked about the process and tried to learn about those who won rather than paint them with such broad strokes? I think that if you read over the comments on this article from the point of view of the customer, you’ll see who the leaders are.
    We have a pretty awesome group of industry guys called the 12v insider, maybe you guys should join us. You’re obviously passionate about the industry, share your ideas and make change happen! Interested?

  3. I am so glad that someone else feels the same way. I emailed Soloman Daniels cause a couple of the shops are now considered manufactures but yet they still were able to compete and win retailer of the year. So much for rules. We emailed Soloman Daniels asked him what his definition of a manufacturer was ” anyone that sells to a retailer” So than when I asked about certain shops competing that were considered manufactures by his definition he started to back peddle and said well we make exceptions for some shops. So much for it being fair. Makes me want to compete knowing that there is a buddy system. And for crying out loud why they put Micah Williams for sonus car audio? He don’t own sonus a gentleman by the name of Jeff Majors owns sonus is that like the best kept secret or something?

    1. Maybe you can sue him for the award. On a serious note, with any award, the people who work hard and don’t win will always be disappointed. I was disappointed that our store fell just a few spots from making the Top 12. I won’t take anything away from the winners, I know them all and admire the work they do every day to set a positive example for the industry. Maybe you should try joining the 12v community and share your positive experiences with the rest of us.

  4. Yeah I have to agree with you Dave same people as always, I call them the brown nosers. Funny thing is when you look at killer installs in streettruckin magizine or import or any other large magizine the installers or shops above are never in those large and very popular magizines. What I am getting at is the true installers or retailers of the year are making so much money they don’t even know about me-mag or their very subjective awards. I don ‘t even participate in this joke stopped years ago but I do like to get a laugh once a year and see what brown nosers made it to the top. Good brown nosing boys.

    1. Hey Shawn, if you ever find yourself in Arizona, I’d like to invite you to stop by my place for a visit so that you can actually know something about me and my business before forming an opinion about either. In the meantime, maybe you can list the retailers and installers that you think deserved the awards instead of those of us that did. Afterall, if they really are the true leaders of the industry, they should be recognized right?

    2. Shawn,
      little confused on your statement. I HAVE graced 32 magazines with my work including DUB, Iron Horse, Speed, and Car Audio and Electronics. I have also had a feature Build in a movie and received TWO awards from GM for a SEMA build in the same year. I would like also to invite you to check out my Store if you are ever in Portland Oregon to see what I’m about.
      Jason

  5. Big supprise same people that are always writting articles for the guys at ME Mag, this should be known as the ME Mag award for our best buddies LOL. What a JOKE no wonder the magazine has gone from something the industry looks to for help and knowlege to something to wipe your butt with when your out in the woods.

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