Hofius 'n Black Chevrolet Inc. has a new name and new ownership.

Bruce Hofius has retired as an owner from the Sharpsville dealership after 20 years and is now owned by Jim Black and his son Jason. The senior Black had been a co-owner with Hofius.

Now going under the name Jason Black Chevrolet Inc., the father-and-son team said it's looking forward to taking the dealership to a new level.

"It's been a successful operation,'' Jim said. "You want to tweak it rather than change it.''

He noted half of the dealership's business is from repeat customers, well above the industry average of 30 percent.

But there are some moves the two men are looking to make such as expanding the volume of the service department and adding to the sales staff in the near future. Currently, the dealership employs 15 including Jim's wife, Judy, who is the office manager.

A Chevrolet dealership has been operating at the same Main Street site since 1937, Jim said, and there's been a car franchise at the location since the mid-'20s.

The Black family also has had a long tenure in the car business. Jim started in the business as a Chevrolet mechanic who picked up the craft from his father, Forde, who became a mechanic in 1934 and went on to become a service manager.

Keeping the long tradition of customer service at the dealership is the key, the two men said.

"We're consistently in the top percentile for General Motors when it comes to customer satisfaction,'' Jason said.

The dealership continues to do its own detailing of vehicles and will continue to have a good mix of cars, trucks and SUVs. About half of the vehicles sold at the dealership are trucks or SUVs.

SUV's like the TrailBlazer and Avalanche have been winners at the dealership along with cars like the Impala and Cavalier. The Venture minivan, particularly the Warner Bros. edition which offers a DVD, also has been a strong performer.

"We've sold more Ventures to retired senior people than to younger couples with four or five kids,'' Jason said.

The Chevrolet line has always been popular locally, both men said.

"This has always been good strong GM country -- but when GM's Lordstown (Ohio) plant came in and then Delphi Automotive it's really been strong,'' Jim said.

About a third of the dealership's business is in used vehicles and soon the dealership hopes to add GM Certified used cars which are required to undergo a detailed inspection and certification process.

Although other dealers talk about going to the "mall'' concept, where a huge showroom is created and hundreds of vehicles of various lines are kept, Jim said that's not the way he wants to go.

"Doing something like that creates deep debt and puts the pressure on,'' he said. "And the costs for that has to be passed on so the person who ultimately pays for something like that is the customer.''