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                                  EXHIBIT 31.1
                                  CERTIFICATION


I, Corey E. Shaker, certify that:

1. I have  reviewed  this  quarterly  report  on  Form  10-Q  of  Hometown  Auto
Retailers, Inc.

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a
material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make the statements
made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such statements were made, not
misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.  Based  on my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other  financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial  condition,  results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as
of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.  The  registrant's  other  certifying  officers  and  I are  responsible  for
establishing and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal  control over financial
reporting  (as defined in Exchange Act Rules  13a-15(f) and  15d-15(f))  for the
registrant and have:

           (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures,  or caused such
           disclosure   controls  and   procedures  to  be  designed  under  our
           supervision,  to ensure  that  material  information  relating to the
           registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
           us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in
           which this report is being prepared;

           (b) Designed  such  internal  control over  financial  reporting,  or
           caused such internal control over financial  reporting to be designed
           under our supervision,  to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
           reliability of financial  reporting and the  preparation of financial
           statements  for  external   purposes  in  accordance  with  generally
           accepted accounting principles;

           (c)  Evaluated  the  effectiveness  of  the  registrant's  disclosure
           controls and procedures and presented in this report our  conclusions
           about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
           of the  end of the  period  covered  by  this  report  based  on such
           evaluation; and

           (d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's  internal
           control  over   financial   reporting   that   occurred   during  the
           registrant's  most recent  fiscal  quarter (the  registrant's  fourth
           fiscal  quarter in the case of an annual  report) that has materially
           affected,   or  is  reasonably  likely  to  materially   affect,  the
           registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5. The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on our
most recent  evaluation of internal  control over  financial  reporting,  to the
registrant's  auditors  and the audit  committee  of the  registrant's  board of
directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

           (a) All  significant  deficiencies  and  material  weaknesses  in the
           design or operation  of internal  control  over  financial  reporting
           which are  reasonably  likely to  adversely  affect the  registrant's
           ability  to  record,   process,   summarize   and  report   financial
           information; and

           (b) Any fraud,  whether or not material,  that involves management or
           other  employees  who  have a  significant  role in the  registrant's
           internal control over financial reporting.

November 11, 2003                /s/ Corey E. Shaker
                                 -------------------------------------
                                 Corey E. Shaker
                                 President and Chief Executive Officer