It’s also expensive company. Adamec says it cost more to incorporate curves in the design of his dealerships, but he thinks it was worth it in terms of attractiveness and increased comfort level for his customers. And that leads to increased sales. The Baymeadows store was redesigned and installed by Harley-Davidson at a cost exceeding $120,000. “The way you build your building and the way you route your floor traffic is important,” Adamec says. You can do your customer and yourself a great service with the proper design, he adds.
During the redesign, Adamec learned about lighting, and spent extra on lights designed to show off the special paint on his Harley machines. High-intensity track lighting is located precisely above each of the six rows of bikes on the show floor to emphasize the full color of the Harley paint jobs. “The lights bring out the features of the motorcycle like never before,” he notes. “Harley-Davidson has a unique paint process that typically looks better when presented outside in bright, natural sunlight. These lights allow us to show off the uniqueness of our paints while the bikes are still indoors.
“You can save big dollars if you cut back on lighting, but it’s one of the most important things [in design]. I don’t want my store to be too bright — like a Target or a Walmart — but there are some areas that have to be highlighted, areas like service and the show floor,” he adds.
Can a dealer recapture dollars spent on design? Here’s what Adamec told Dealernews Top 100 judges in his winning application one year ago: “We completed the project in September 2010, and the design and lighting impacted our motorcycle sales significantly. For example, we had five motorcycles from the previous model year that all were of the same color and all were over 365 days old. All five sold within the first week after we completed the project and had put the units on display under the new lights.”
The Adamec business is the 10th oldest in the U.S. Harley-Davidson network. Adamec today operates four Harley stores in the Jacksonville and St. Augustine areas on Florida’s northeastern coast.
The main store on Baymeadows Road is 65,000 sq. ft., including a 15,000 sq. ft. showroom and a 29,000 sq. ft service department. The dealership sits on 4.5 acres just off of I-95, a main artery for Florida. It opened in 2006.
The other stores are Adamec Harley-Davidson at Regency, a 18,000 sq. ft. facility opened in 1973, and Adamec Harley-Davidson of Orange Park, a 20,000 sq. ft. unit that opened in 1998.
TheJacksonville stores are full-service Harley dealerships. A fourth store in St. Augustine — the former Harley-Davidson of St. Augustine — is a small (1,400 sq. ft.) alternate retail outlet that sells shirts and accessories. It’s in the main tourist walking area of the oldest city in the United States.(Continued)
