FAIRVIEW—Big Pine Sports of Fair view is moving for ward on a multi-million-dollar expansion of its showroom and service facilities at the corner of Millburn Road and 400 North (Fairview Canyon Road).
The expansion will make the business the largest of its type Sanpete and Juab counties combined, and possibly a wider area, and will facilitate growth of Big Pine’s sizable online business.
Owner Jared Livingston says he is building a new 20,000-square-foot, two-story showroom, which will feature a main floor and mezzanine filled with ATVs and motorcycles. And with large windows on the front of the building, the merchandise will be visible day and night from both cross streets.
In addition to the new showroom, the business is adding a 35-foot by 200- foot shop building. The old showroom will be converted into a service building.
Livingston said he has been planning the expansion for some time. He bought the trailer park next to his existing building more than two years ago to accommodate the expansion and to capture the intersection corner.
Livingston said he gave the trailer park residents plenty of notice to give them a chance to relocate prior to construction. All of the trailers are now gone.
A white permanent home on the property was a different story. Livingston gave it away on condition that the new owners move it. As of Sunday, it was being prepared for the move.
Livingston is a home-grown entrepreneur. He was born and raised in Moroni. He said he had only worked for someone else one time in his life, and that was a short stint as a restaurant worker for a business called Twin Kitchens. He said when he asked for his first raise and only got 25 cents, that was the end of working for other people.
He and his brother ran a lawn mowing business and built it up to more than 100 lawns per month. After returning from his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he began a parking lot maintenance company and soon was striping parking lots across the county.
He also started a limousine company that proved successful, but he sold it because it was taking his weekend and evening time away from his family.
Big Pine Sports has been in business since 1976. Livingston purchased the business in 2003. At the time, his product line only included Yamahas and Arctic Cats.
Later, he built a 3,500-square-foot addition to the showroom and a four-bay service shop addition and took on some new franchises. Today, the product line includes Kawasaki, Ski-Doo and Can Am in addition to Yamaha and Arctic Cat. Big Pine also sells high-performance Trek bicycles.
The latest addition to the vehicle line is Vanderhall, produced by Utah’s only automobile manufacturer. The Vanderhall has a threewheel design that looks like a cross between a motorcycle and a 1950s sports car. Its has a gasoline-powered, dual overhead Cam engine and an inline four-cylinder configuration, which features variable valve timing, a turbocharger and direct injection. It is also available in an electric version.
Livingston says the company is also introducing an electric, four-wheel-drive sports utility vehicle called the Brawley, which he says it is different from any other SUV on the market. It comes in a standard off-road version, but he says his company can make it street legal with minor modifications. He has taken 13 orders for Brawleys.
Livingston says most of his business comes from outside Sanpete County. He has sold ATVs into Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania and other states.
His online parts business called Ruthless Motor Sports sells off-roading replacement parts to customers all over the world.
When he bought the business, Livingston says, it only had five employees, some of whom he credits with helping him get Big Pine Sports where it is today. Currently, the company employs 28, and when the expansion is complete, he expects to add 12 to 18 more.
One of the things Livingston credits for his success is his extensive use of YouTube. He said the business has put a lot of effort and money into producing videos on every aspect of the ATV business. He says he has even used his children in some of the videos. People can view the videos by typing Big Pine Sports into the YouTube search feature.
Asked what the future holds, Livingston says, “People always need to play.” He said he was a little worried when COVID came around, but 2020 was a record year for Big Pine Sports, and 2021 exceeded 2020.
He said his biggest problem right now is supply. He currently has seven machines he can’t deliver because he can’t get the gauges they need. He says he is ordering inventory a year out just to try and circumvent supply issues.
Livingston says that no matter how big his business gets, he will never leave Sanpete County. “This is where I’m going to raise my kids,” he says. He is married and has two daughters, ages 13 and 18 months.
