St. Johns County Business Spotlight: Classic Car Museum of St. Augustine

The Classic Car Museum of St. Augustine (CCM) is a museum, event space and classic car storage facility located at 4730 U.S. Highway 1 S. Established in 2020 by the Hobbs family – Sidney, Brenda and Madison – the museum has a calendar full of events and car shows, with many of those events benefiting community organizations. The Hobbs family shares their thoughts on being business owners here in St. Johns County.

Q: What inspired you to select St. Johns County as the home of your business?
A: We are St. Johns County locals. We have been here over 20 years and plan to stay for generations to come. The community here feels like a family, full of business owners striving to contribute to the success of the community as a whole.

Q: What is the best part about being a business owner in St. Johns County?
A: As we all know, our county is continuing to grow. We have the amazing benefit of being a tourist destination as well as a tight-knit local community. This allows our outreach to stretch beyond the St. Johns County lines as well as cater to those within the community.

Q: How has your business focus of giving back to the community impacted both the community and your business?
A: As a 501c3 organization, we have hosted numerous charity events here at the Classic Car Museum of St. Augustine, in partnership with Classic Eventage. Since opening in 2020, we have given back around $250,000 to the community through these philanthropy-focused events. It is the heart and soul of what we do here at CCM.

Q: What is your biggest business success to date?
A: We opened in June of 2020, which we all know as the “Covid year.” As a business, we were not completely sure what operations would look like choosing to move forward with our opening date under the circumstances of the world. However, we discovered it is just what the community needed. With our vast amount of outdoor space, we were able to host events that still remained under Covid protocol that our community was able to enjoy. We created a sense of community in the most trying of times. Through this time, we were able to build connections with those looking for a place to store their vehicles. We gained 30 storage vehicles here at CCM, which is the biggest business success to date as we are FULL and have over 100 cars for our customer’s viewing pleasure. The growth of our event company, Classic Eventage, is also continuing to grow as we gain more bookings each day.

Q: What are your future business growth plans?
A: We have some exciting new plans for growth! We are potentially getting a tenant for our restaurant site next door, looking into new building expansions, and discovering more opportunities for community involvement. Classic Eventage is also continuing to grow and expand community outreach in Madison’s efforts to plan, host and execute fantastic events that our guests love to attend!

Q: Outside of work, what activities do you enjoy here in St. Johns County?
A: We love supporting the local restaurants and shops here in St. Johns county! Most weekends are spent in beautiful downtown St. Augustine, at our stunning beaches, boating on the intracoastal, or enjoying our favorite artists at The Amp! We truly appreciate where we live and try our best to get out and support other local businesses here in the community.

Q: Do you have any parting thoughts you’d like to share?
A: We as a family have dreamed of opening this business for as long as we can remember, and seeing this dream come to fruition is such a blessing. The heart of our business is that “you can’t out give God, but we try to every day” and we truly live by that statement. Whether you’re a car enthusiast, need a rainy-day activity, looking for a space to host your next event, or have a charity/cause that breaks your heart and need help finding a way to spread the cause, we are here to help!

For more information about the Classic Car Museum of St. Augustine, visit www.ccmstaug.com. Video footage of Commissioner Alaimo’s visit with Madison Hobbs can be seen on YouTube. For more information about the St. Johns County Department of Economic Development, visit www.sjcfl.us/economicdevelopment.