New London dealership extends its 'car corner' stake
New London - The Whaling City Ford Lincoln Mazda dealership opened a new chapter this month when it began servicing heavy-duty trucks across the street behind Barry's Cleaners and helped close another chapter in the city's history when it purchased the former Goldy's Restaurant next door.
But Nathan Gaucher, general manager of the Colman Street car dealership, emphasized that the purchase of the longtime local staple Goldy's, completed last week, was hardly a case of a big business gobbling up a smaller enterprise.
"We've known each other for years," Gaucher said of the Goldstein family that had run Goldy's off and on since the 1980s. "They're a great family. It was just the right time for both of us."
Gaucher noted that Anita Goldstein Miller, co-owner of the business, had put the property on the market seeking a buyer several weeks ago. Whaling City needed the space, he said, because of cramped quarters for parking at the expanding dealership.
Dealership owners Romana and Chuck Primus, said Miller, made an offer she "couldn't refuse."
Gaucher said he expects the aging restaurant building will be demolished within the next few months, allowing the dealership to store and display another 100 to 200 products - most likely light trucks and commercial vehicles - on the 1-acre site. Whaling City Ford also has bought and demolished a former Meineke car care center and Enterprise rent-a-car business as a way to expand and get more exposure on the city's "car corner" at Broad and Colman streets, while establishing more parking for employees and customers.
"The corner itself is a tremendous benefit," Gaucher said during an interview at his office near the dealership's newly renovated showrooms. "The four corners have a little bit of everything."
And now Whaling City includes a commercial truck repair center across Colman Street at a lot the dealership has long owned. The new center allows technicians to work on bigger trucks as well as ambulances and buses - major jobs that often involve replacing motors and transmissions, Gaucher said.
"Time is money, and their vehicles can't be down for more than a day," Gaucher said.
The new truck center has freed up three to four bays in the booming main service department, which sees between 60 and 100 customers a day, Gaucher estimated. The service business is so over-the-top busy that anyone calling on Monday wouldn't likely be seen until Friday, said service manager Jeff Janssen.
Janssen said his department was fairly busy up until April, when an influx of business roughly corresponding with the completion of the new building makeover and the start up a more upbeat advertising campaign resulted in a sudden influx of customers.
"People want to deal with a successful business," Gaucher said.
And Gaucher said he is very positive about the future at Whaling City. Newly installed as general manager, the 37-year-old newlywed said the dealership hasn't been so busy since the 1980s, and with a recent doubling of sales there is more need than ever to stock inventories of everything from the latest lightweight aluminum-alloy trucks to new, flexibly designed utility vehicles.
"Our goal is to be one of the largest dealers in the state for everything," Gaucher said. "We're going to get there. It doesn't come easy, and it doesn't come free."
But Gaucher promised one thing: He isn't going to use gimmicks to get there. Younger car dealership managers are working with a different set of ideals than was seen a generation ago, he said, and Gaucher doesn't want to offer deals that aren't real.
"The idea is we want to run this place as a business, but not the car business," he said.
The idea, he said, is to put everyone into a car of their dreams that they also can afford.
"We want it to be exciting. We want it to be honest," he said. "I want to be able on any given night to walk into the grocery store and never have to put my head down."
l.howard@theday.com
Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow
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