Bert's Mega Mall: Bigger Can Be Better

Bert's Mega Mall: Bigger Can Be Better - Dealernews

Bert's Mega Mall: Bigger Can Be BetterRod Seidner downsizes Bert's Mega Mall while expanding and improving it. He hopes that better, bigger, fewer stores are the future.

Publish date: Jun 1, 2009
By: Arlo Redwine
Source: Dealernews

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RON SEIDNER thinks the slowdown is no excuse for shoddy dealerships; on the contrary, a smaller market should result in fewer but better stores, he says. And the bigger the better. He cites Best Buy as an example: People want to go where they can see a lot of inventory in one place and get excellent service.

He says the same goes for our industry and offers up his own store, Bert's Mega Mall in Southern California, as the model. In 2007, it retailed 11,477 new units and 1,702 used ones. Last year these numbers declined 24 percent and 6 percent, respectively. This was in conjunction with a major remodel still in progress. Talk about a hectic year: How do you expand and contract at the same time?

About 850 units in the main showroom are organzied by type, then brand. Middle

I arrive at the store in late April to find out. Its breathtaking exterior reaffirms the statistics: 200,000 sq. ft on 9.5 acres in the city of Covina. Even next to the back side of a Wal-Mart, it looms large. Displaying the logo of nearly every major OEM, it's a mall indeed.

Blowout deals go in the Red Tag Zone. The store's dinosaur (on rollers) is visiting.

Bert's doesn't open for another two hours. I follow an employee in through a side door, and find Seidner. He offers me a drink from his new coffee bar, and a tour of the place. But first I excuse myself for a quick trip to the bathroom, which looks as if it belongs to a five-star hotel. Two women are cleaning it (I'd later see them cleaning other areas), but they politely exit long enough for me to do my business. Pink cleaner sits in each of a long line of sinks, which already sparkle.

The new delivery area mirrors the Red Tag Zone.

Seidner is proud of his bathrooms and put a lot of thought into them, placing square mirrors in the men's, round ones in the women's. He also provides blow dryers so riders can dry their heads. It wasn't until walls were ripped down during the remodel that he noticed that the women's bathroom was twice as large as the men's (the building once housed a Target and a Kids R Us). He reversed that ratio, eliminating the backup for the men's while still providing adequate facilities for women.

The reception desk doubles as a helmet/jacket check.

After I return Seidner hands me my drink, explaining that its Suzuki-branded sleeve is sponsored. The cafe, Bert's Mega Brew, has several brown leather couches, flat-screen TVs, framed articles on the store's history, and (in addition to the bar) several vending machines. Seidner says the cafe doesn't generate much profit and is simply a convenience for customers and employees.

But enough of the bathrooms and cafe. On to the dealership proper.

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