Hometown Certified Pre-Owned at the former Kroger location on Third Street in Ironton just opened on Oct. 1 of this year, but general manager Gavin Harbolt said the business has been more than what was expected.

The dealership is one of seven in the region under the Hometown Auto Group, and with Harbolt having experience within the company and at other car dealerships, he wanted to bring the business to Ironton.

“I was born and raised in Ironton, and wanted to bring something here to help the community,” Harbolt said. “I got into the car business back in 2010. I started at Bill Cole in Ashland, Kentucky, then moved up to Columbus for a couple years, and moved back here around two years ago. I would always drive by this place and think that it would be such a great location for a car dealership, and we officially opened in October.”

He added that the dealership doesn’t have overhead costs, which is one of the reasons he believes it to be so successful.

“We have the same quality cars without the overhead, so we can price our vehicles a lot cheaper,” he said. “So far, business has been fantastic. Before we started here, we said if we could sell 25-30 vehicles a month, we’d be happy. But we doubled that last month, and are on pace to triple that now. I’m pretty ecstatic about that, and the support from the community has been fantastic.”

Harbolt added that he also wants the business to support the community as much as possible through different fundraisers or events each month, with the dealership donating 350 turkeys to needy families in Ironton and Lawrence County for Thanksgiving in November.

The lot has a wide variety of cars and trucks, which can be found on its website at w ww.hometowncpo.com. Hometown Certified Pre-Owned is located at 2125 S. Third St. in Ironton.