Well 2014 is off and running and we have quite a few things going on right now that I would like to share with everyone.
New Product
First off, I don’t know if everyone has seen the news from Ford about the new 2015 F-150 and the 2015 Navigator, but I believe they are going to be great products for us. Since the new 2015 F-150 is going to have an aluminum body, we are going to have to acquire some more equipment for the Body Shops in order to be able to work on them. It will be interesting to see how all that unfolds in regards to ease of working on aluminum.
Construction & Updates
Our construction projects in St. Joe are underway now. The new Mitsubishi building is finished and Bob and the team are moving into that building the first weekend here in February and will operate from there until the Kia building remodel is finished. We are hoping that will be finished by June 1st. I believe that the finished product there will have a huge impact on sales volumes. The Ford remodel should be starting here in the next couple weeks as well and will be complete shortly after the Kia store is done with its remodel. The builder is planning on doing the work in phases at the Ford store so they don’t disrupt our business too much during this process. You will be able to go to AAGConnect.com and view pictures as the construction progresses.
On another exciting note in St. Joe, we just finalized our land swap agreement with Price Chopper (a large grocery store chain). They are buying the property next to us, tearing down the old movie theatre, and putting up a new store that will sit right next to the end of our strip center. They are telling me that they expect around 16,000 customers a day to come to the store so it should help our traffic tremendously I believe. Sounds like it takes roughly 12-18 months for that project to be completed and I am not sure when they will actually begin.
The final touches are being placed on the gas station in Lincoln (Andy’s Express) and we hope to start moving dirt sometime around the middle of February. We have decided to represent VP Racing Fuels as we feel that will add credibility concerning the quality of the fuel we will be selling. Also, for those of you that like the high-octane fuels, we will be able to get all of that. They were telling me that we have the ability to deliver 55 gallon drums to people’s homes if need be. That will be pretty handy for those that are into racing.
Keeping a Family Together
By the time you read this, we will have received 3 vehicle donations this year and our goal is to average at least 2 per month. This should allow us the opportunity to really impact people that are truly in need. For this reason, we applied for our dealer’s license for BPM Inc. (our non-profit) in order to avoid having to pay sales tax on these vehicles and have more money to fix them up so they are ready to roll. I’d like to share one of our most recent vehicle donation stories with you:
Cynthia taking delivery of her new vehicle.
Turns out, because of vehicle problems, she was no longer able to consistently get her kids to school. If she couldn’t find a solution quickly, she would soon lose custody. Cornerstone Family Counseling caught wind of Cynthia’s story and reached out to BPM Inc. for help.
We were able to locate a van for her, but in a different way than ever before. After hearing Cynthia’s story, Bigler Motors actually ended up donating the vehicle to BPM Inc, and we presented her with the van at the Mazda store. Did you catch that? One of our competitors heard the story, caught the vision, and stepped into the situation to help put Cynthia on a better path. Two dealers on the same turf saw a person in need, recognized their own unique position to help, and set aside business as usual to impact a family in our community.
This Mission that we keep our doors open for; there’s something to it beyond the walls of Anderson. At its core is a belief that people and their stories are incredibly important. Valuing people and helping create better stories is bigger than us. It crosses the border between businesses and binds together like-minded people that want to build a better community. As our Mission impacts our Industry, it will more greatly impact our Community.
This all starts with the sum of the individual efforts made on a daily basis by every member of the Anderson Team. Everyone’s effort makes our growing impact possible, and truly changes the lives of people like Cynthia.
The Anderson Cultural Value of Vision means to look for ways to consistently value people. Cynthia’s story clearly shows this value at work in the people involved in providing a vehicle for her. We look forward to many more stories like this in the coming year. Check out the latest updates on AAGConnect.com.
Andy Award Nominations
We will soon be posting the 2014 Andy Award Nomination Forms. In addition to the final awards at the Christmas Party, we will be giving away monthly prizes for nominees during 2014. More details to come as we get this kicked off.
Thanks for all you do everyday!!
Mike Anderson
