The RV Industry Association has written a profile piece on Andrew Cooley, a fourth-generation RV dealer and the founder of Storyteller Overland.
While co-founder of Storyteller Overland Andrew Cooley is a successful RV entrepreneur today, he’s quick to credit his mentors, tutors, and inspirations – a list of industry leaders that begins, literally, from his birth.
“Those who say they’ve never met their heroes must have the wrong heroes,” says the 36-year-old, who was recently named by RV PRO magazine as one of the industry’s “40 Under 40.”
A fourth-generation RV dealer, Cooley’s roots go back to his great grandparents who travelled around America’s southeast selling used RVs before settling in Bessemer, Ala. Then several years later his grandparents became Hi-Lo travel trailer dealers and campground owners.
Their son followed them into the business, taking over the Hi-Lo franchise and founding Dandy RV in Birmingham, Ala. – a name derived from Cooley’s father’s nickname, “Jim Dandy.” The Hi-Lo franchise grew from the smallest in the state to the ninth largest in the country during the 37 years that Cooley’s parents owned and operated it. But in the early days, when the property they leased had no utilities, they had to pump water out of a nearby creek to wash the campers. One day, a man from a neighboring Ford dealership commented on their industriousness and introduced himself as Jim Kimbrell, later the founder of Le Mesa RV in Arizona.
Cooley had heard stories of Kimbrell his whole life but did not meet the “mythical and legendary Mr. K” until 2019. “Mr. K proves to me that if you treat people right and keep doing the right thing, that eventually your hard work will pay off,” said Cooley, who today keeps a photo of Kimbrell in his office.
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