EVERETT — Mazda of Everett lot manager Stanley Thomas pulled out a cellphone to mark the occasion with a photo.
“I’ve gotta get something for Facebook,” Thomas said.
It was a time to celebrate Thursday, first the grand opening of the Mazda dealership at 11409 Highway 99 in Everett, but also the launch of a new design — called Retail Evolution — for future Mazda stores.
“It’s exceeded all of our expectations,” said Jerry McCann, dealer/principal, said of the store.
Jim O’Sullivan, CEO and president of Mazda North American Operations, and senior vice president Robert T. Davis came to join in the festivities.
“I love the overall feel and look of it,” O’Sullivan said. “Some dealerships you walk into and it’s like you’re walking into any store, but when you walk into one of these Retail Evolution stores you get a totally different sense of feeling.”
McCann has owned Mazda of Everett for a decade, but was in a leased space a half mile north on Highway 99. In 2013, he purchased the former Moss Trucking site and built a new dealership from the ground up. The store opened earlier this year, but the grand opening was held Thursday.
The $6 million project includes a state-of-the-art building, 14 service bays, a waiting area for customers and massive video display and glass offices for the sales staff. It was also a chance for McCann to work with Mazda corporate on a fresh design for the store, a design that will be a template for future stores across the country.
“This is the first one in the country done from the ground up,” O’Sullivan said. “We have another 80 more in the pipeline.”
Mazda has always aimed to create a different look and feel with its stores than other dealerships that are often white with red trim or white with blue trim, O’Sullivan said.
Instead, Mazda has chosen color schemes that make dealerships pop out from auto rows. With this new Retail Evolution design, they worked hard to create a warm space with lowered ceilings and open offices and considered carefully textures, colors and images within the store.
For customers waiting for their cars to be serviced, they added a lounge with televisions and Wi-Fi.
“We want people to be comfortable when they come in to buy an automobile,” O’Sullivan said. “We want them to have a good environment to do business.”
One of the concepts they used at other stores — and continued with Mazda of Everett — is the “jewel box,” putting a Mazda lit 24-hours day in a tower above the store.
Davis, Mazda senior vice president of U.S. operations, said he wanted to come to event to support McCann, whom he has known for years. He said that from the beginning McCann pushed for a design that would be good for his customers and his employees.
“The building doesn’t make success,” Davis said. “People make the success, but giving the people an environment to succeed in is really key. Immediately, when he moved here, Jerry called me and said it was the best thing he ever did, his people were happy and his customers were happy.”
McCann, who grew up in Everett and went to Mariner High School just a short distance from his new lot, said he was just happy to create something like this in his hometown.
“I’m just excited that it’s happening here in our community,” McCann said.
Mazda of Everett plans to continue a grand opening celebration through September, offering incentives and sales. The store has added extra inventory with 500 new vehicles and 120 used ones.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
