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Although Darner Chrysler is on the list of dealerships who will no longer be receiving new cars, the owners have announced that they will not be shutting their doors. They are going to continue to sell used cars, trucks, and parts. Good for them for not giving up!
The move does mean some lay-offs, but its a lot better than the whole dealership shutting down. Don't get me wrong, this is going to be a challenge for them, but as a family run business, hopefully they can offer some competition to some of the corporate run dealerships.
Perhaps, they can also participate in the "shop mesa" program so people can get a bunch of Mesa Bucks for keeping their money in town. In the end, this is the type of fortitude that we should recognize and celebrate.
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2 comments:
Its too bad for them, but I am impressed with their will to continue to move forward and adjust their business plan. Very smart and many should look at how they are adjusting to the economic and current hurdle that has been thrown on them.
My dilemma for any auto dealership on main street is that when light rail comes, these are conflicting uses. Dealerships are a huge piece of the pie when it comes to sales tax and should not be ran out of town. City needs to approach these owners and discuss this transition of light rail and in how to give them more exposure along the freeways. Main street is not longer the main drag for traffic. If you look at the history of Main street, it was more of a traditional main street pre world war. After, the crazy hit and main street was a perfect place to sale cars. With light rail, I think it is shifting or should shift back to a more traditional approach and should not have these car lots fronting the street frontage. Do want them to stay here and hope that something can be worked out to keep them in Mesa as this transition happens.
Where could an auto dealership relocate in Mesa that would be beneficial to them? There doesn't appear to be much auto dealer space with good freeway frontage left in the Riverview area, and the other major auto dealership spots are in Chandler and Gilbert. If forced to relocate, would they relocate within Mesa?
Additionally, it seems there has historically been difficulty in finding suitable reuse for auto dealerships, aside from doing a teardown and rebuild. Look at Broadway between Dobson and Alma School. When I moved to Mesa in 2001, it was a thriving row of auto dealerships. Now it's empty buildings. Heck, look at Scottsdale Motor Mile. It's going in that direction.
Either way, I wish them the best of luck in selling used vehicles. With people being much more thrifty now than 2-3 years ago, it seems that used vehicles would sell well.
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