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Within the first few minutes of meeting Michael Evans, a person will most likely want to do business with him. His friendly smile and courteous demeanor insist that he’s the right person for the job. Covering an array of positive “P” words, Evans is polite, personal, professional and proficient. That is perhaps the reason why his business, Spectrum Tint and Audio, has thrived in Morgan City for the past two decades.
What started out as a part-time job tinting windows in high school eventually led into something more, said Evans. After a brief departure to work in the oil field, he was called upon to return to his former employment and within only a few years, he owned the business.
“The manager of the shop asked me to come back to work for him,” explained the Morgan City resident. “This was about ’89 and I worked for him for about three more years and then he decided he wanted to get out of it. I actually proposed an offer to him to buy the business, so I went ahead and went to the bank, took out a loan and bought the business from him. It will be 20 years this September.”
The original building, located on Sanders Street had a single stall with limited space. Over the years, as business increased, two expansions took place. One was an add-on to the original Sanders’ structure and the second was the big move to the facility’s current location at 720 Brashear Ave. According to Evans, it was quite a considerable upgrade.
“We went from a shop that had right at about 1,200 square feet and now we are operating at a facility that is about 13,000 square feet. It’s a little bit bigger than the last location,” the shop owner joked.
With an abundance of workspace and the willingness to travel for certain jobs, Spectrum Tint and Audio not only works on vehicles, but also commercial buildings, homes and vessels. So if a boat crew needs blackout windows in their sleeping quarters, or a family wants a new sound system for their movie room, or a person just wants some really nice speakers and OnStar installed in their SUV, Spectrum can handle it.
When it comes to window tinting, there are a number of benefits to be had, according to Evans, whose three main tricks to a great tint job are cleanliness, quickness and proficiency.
“Number one, all the way across the board, no matter what films we use they are all going to screen out 99.8 percent of UV light radiation. And that’s for the home, commercial or automotive. All of our films screen out that, which is also going to keep any interiors on your vehicle or in your home, such as draperies or upholstery, from fading. Number two, it also adds something we call the shading coefficient, which is a ‘coolness’ or a ‘feel’ factor on the skin, and, of course, for aesthetic purposes,” the tint master explained. “We also do some safety film installations, which is a theft deterrent film, which holds the glass together if somebody breaks it.”
With audio the tricks of cleanliness, quickness and proficiency are the same except the results are less visible and more audible, unless otherwise requested by the customer.
“We pride ourselves to make our audio installations look as close to factory as possible. So when a customer goes into their vehicle, they’re not going to see a difference other than if we change a radio or add another piece of equipment,” Evans said. “Other than that they should not really see anything, all they should do is hear the difference.”
Currently, Evans has two employees working with him at the shop, Kent Lance and Curtis Merchant.
“Kent is our audio guru, the 12-volt guy. And, then me, I’m tinting and accessories, and then we have Curtis, who is a mix of everything. He’s the man that can do just about anything,” the employer said.
“If I could just find someone to replace me, I’d really be doing well,” he joked, quickly including that he was certainly not ready for retirement any time soon.
Over the 22 years in which Evans has worked in the tint and audio industry, the most notable changes have been the technological improvements.
“In the evolution on the audio side, we’ve seen the change from an 8-track tape to a regular tape, then a tape to a CD and now everything is Bluetooth and digital files,” he explained. “On the window tint side the biggest change of course has been in the technology in the products that we use, the durability.”
Spectrum offers personalized service to every customer and has considerably lower labor rates than local dealerships, touted Evans, adding that the tint and audio store sells high quality products at a reasonable price, honors warranties and backs up its work.
“Let’s just say we wouldn’t have been in business in this little town for this long if we wouldn’t have,” he said.
“In high school, I loved to work on vehicles. It kind of was a hobby that turned into a career,” said Spectrum Tint & Audio shop owner Michael Evans, with “audio guru” Kent Lance. ALYSON SHOWALTER
