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In the last couple of weeks demolition has begun and a new Santa Paula Chevy look is just around the corner. (Photo, above left) Rene Contreras and Jaime Garcia, Independent Concrete Cutting, begin taking down the overhang in the service area. Above (right photo) is the original look of Santa Paula Chevrolet as built in the early 1970s. |
Santa Paula Chevrolet: Dealership undergoing sleek remodel
July 06, 2012
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula Chevrolet, Ventura County’s most honored dealership, is undergoing an ambitious remodel to give it lines as sleek as the automotive models it sells throughout the Tri-Counties and beyond. Construction at the West Harvard Boulevard location started in recent weeks, but Dealer/Operator John Macik promised the impacts from construction will not impact access, whether customers are seeking sales or service.
In recent weeks Macik said the fencing was up and underground utilities marked, “so when they start jack hammering and cutting” all safety regulations would be met. “We’re putting footings in the ground” and preparing for the firewalls required by permitting.
Macik said so far construction - scheduled to be completed in 120 days - hasn’t slowed business: “We sold 10 cars yesterday, so I don’t think it will hurt us at all.” But that does not mean “we won’t do all we can to mitigate the construction and make sure our customers can still get in” through the well-marked construction areas.
Sales and service “are still accessible... we did a lot of planning to make sure we wouldn’t be closed for even one day during this.... A lot of that went into the consideration of the project.”
It’s some project that also includes new windows, doors, ceilings, “new lights, new walls, and even new furniture. It’s a complete remodel of the dealership and every inch gets painted inside and out.”
Macik said the “showrooms will be brand new,” and the exterior is also undergoing an extensive remodel. Already completed is the purchase of adjacent property that now holds the dealership’s large inventory of used vehicles.
For now and for the time it takes for the dealership’s remodel to be completed, “It’s one day at a time” that Macik said will result in “an absolute state of the art, more customer friendly brand new building, but with the same great service.”
That service - whether sales, vehicle maintenance or repairs - this year earned the dealership its third consecutive Mark of Excellence Award that reflects its standing in the top 10 percent of the nation’s almost 5,000 GM dealerships. All criteria must be met to garner the award - sales, service, customer satisfaction, market penetration, and certification of service employees.
Macik is proud that Santa Paula Chevrolet is “family owned and operated,” including his wife Sandra, and that its wide customer base includes generations of families that purchase their vehicles from the dealership, just one aspect of the dealership that earns it a Better Business Bureau A+ rating. He is also pleased that the dealership, a $50 million a year company, last year had a $4 million payroll that supported local families.
Macik also is a generous community supporter of numerous organizations, including the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley, Santa Clara Valley Hospice, and the Santa Paula Police & Fire Foundation and its annual Moonlight at the Ranch fundraiser.
Macik is celebrating his 20th year at the helm of Santa Paula Chevrolet. Now he is also at the helm of the ambitious project that will make the dealership ribbon cutting brand new.
But a collectible he owns is a reminder of the dealership’s long history: “I have a postcard of Tony Bridges (who established the business) when the dealership opened in 1974,” said Macik. “I found it on eBay.”
