Dealer Spotlight: Country Carts

Not many people can trace their love of golf carts back to a Dairy Queen paycheck. But that's exactly where the story of Country Carts begins — in the golf cart community of Diamondhead, Mississippi, where a fifteen-year-old spent his summer earnings on a cart to ride around the neighborhood with friends. Today, that same passion drives Country Carts in Bay St. Louis, one of the Gulf Coast's most golf cart-friendly towns. We sat down with Elliot, the founder, for a Q&A about the journey, the customers, and why this business is about a whole lot more than carts.

Tell us about yourself and how you got into the golf cart business.

I was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico and moved to the Mississippi Gulf Coast at seven years old after my dad got a job as an oceanographer. I finished high school in Mississippi, then moved to Florida as a Katrina refugee and finished my undergrad in Gainesville. There's a lot more to that story, but let me tell y'all how golf carts came into my life. It starts with growing up in the golf cart community of Diamondhead, MS. As a kid, I was used to seeing golf carts driven around everywhere. At fifteen, I got my first job at Dairy Queen. I worked all summer and saved up $800 to buy my first golf cart. I used it to putt around the neighborhood and go to the pool with my friends. So while golf carts are kind of a newer phenomenon for most people, I had been using them as neighborhood vehicles since the late '90s. Still to this day, I use a golf cart regularly for neighborhood transport.

What inspired you to start Country Carts?

When I was around thirty, a switch just flipped inside of me. I went from not caring about business at all to having an intuitive desire to be entrepreneurial. At the time I was living in Taiwan and started a software business. I also started an event promotion and DJ business. Doing business in a foreign country and language is especially hard — it made me think, wow, this would be so much easier in the US. Eventually COVID got into Taiwan despite the country successfully shutting its borders and keeping it out for over a year. Work under COVID was just too hard to execute, so I moved back to the States. I worked a commission-only sales job at a golf cart shop, then moved on to selling marketing services to cart shops as a freelancer. I later bought one golf cart to start a rental business, and that one cart snowballed into opening up Country Carts.

What makes Bay St. Louis unique for golf carts?

In BSL, people use golf carts as their daily driver. When you pull into Old Town on a weekend, it's flooded with golf carts.

Who is your typical customer, and what are they usually looking for?

It ranges from families using them for the neighborhood to retirees using them as daily drivers. They usually come in looking for something street-ready and lithium. They're drawn to the bells and whistles — lights, speakers, all of it.

What types of carts do you specialize in?

We're a Denago dealer! Y'all know what's up!

What makes your dealership different from others in your area?

I think it's the peaceful nature of our staff. We have a culture of kindness. Everyone works for each other and carries a real "teamwork makes the dream work" perspective.

Why did you choose to carry Denago EV?

I first saw the cart and thought, wow — what a unique and differentiated design. Then I reached out and spoke with one of the co-founders. He had a great vibe and positive energy. Glad we got to come on board early. It's been a great experience and very helpful to our business.

What's a memorable customer story that stands out?

I sold a used Club Car DS to a super cool older Filipino man who lived in the middle of nowhere, out in the Mississippi countryside. I delivered the golf cart to him personally. When we dropped it off, he told me his life story — moving from the Philippines to the US and making a living here. I got to physically see the family he'd made and the life he'd built. It was a beautiful sunset that day out in the country.

How do you approach customer service differently?

We lean into building a personal relationship, getting to know the customer. When you get to know the person, you gain the context necessary to match them up with the perfect cart. We're in a small town, so we match that next-door-neighbor kind of energy. People have brought us deer meat. Just sitting here today writing this, I heard a customer invite our store manager to a beach bonfire.

What are you most excited about for the future of Country Carts?

We're still young and have a lot to learn. I'm excited to see what we can do with years of refinement and organic growth.

Where do you see the golf cart market heading in your area?

I see more communities being oriented around golf cart usage. I hope we see them being incorporated into inner-city mobility to ease traffic, reduce noise, and amplify limited space.

Outside of work, what do you enjoy doing?

I love culture, so I love travel — gaining a new perspective from seeing how people live, eat, and dance around the world. I also like to walk around cities with no goal but just to exist and pay attention.

If someone visits Bay St. Louis, what's one thing they must do?

Take a sunset cruise — on a golf cart, of course — down the beach from the Silver Slipper to Old Town. Have a nice dinner on the beach and enjoy some live music. We actually blogged our five favorite things to do in BSL — check it out here.