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Castlegar Toyota's New Building Caters to Customers' Needs
Castlegar Toyota’s new building of glass, wood and steel is bright, spacious and open. Dealer principal Craig Kalawsky anticipates that his employees and customers will be thrilled with it. Kalawsky worked with Fairbank Architects in Nelson to come up with the design.
“I think it reflects our open skies,” he said. “We have a lot of glass and wood and steel to reflect the openness, the water and the forest.”
Kalawsky is also pleased about the expanded space in the new facility.
“It’s three times the size of what we are currently in,” said Kalawsky. “So right off the bat, having a bigger facility is going to give us better display.”
As well, the 10-bay shop will be two times larger than the previous shop.
“The nice thing about that is we’re going to have more capacity,” said Kalawsky, “and the wait time for customers to get in will be significantly reduced.”
Located on Columbia Avenue in Castlegar, the new building boasts many environmentally friendly features, such as an auto-dimming showroom that responds to outside light, low-wattage lighting, a computer-controlled heating and cooling system and a shop heated with used oil from cars.
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“My goal is to be the first carbon-neutral dealership in B.C.,” said Kalawsky.
Kalawsky plans to have a carbon-neutral consultant assess the finished structure to determine what else can be done to ultimately make it carbon-neutral.
Another exciting feature of the new dealership is the service drive-thru. Unique to the West Kootenay, the drive-thru will allow customers to pull their car right up inside the shop.
“Our service personnel will greet them right at their car,” said Kalawsky. “It’s going to make for a lot better experience for the customers. They’ll be out of the weather . . . and can point out right on their car what concerns they have.”
Kalawsky said that, overall, construction has gone well. The building is very close to being completed and the grand opening is anticipated to be in October.
“I was quite impressed with how everything, all of these separate entities, got organized and worked together to get it done,” said Kalawsky.
And Kalawsky is excited about being in the new space.
“We want the experience for customers and for our employees, as well, to be better,” he said. “In our smaller, older facility we were in, we were limited on the type of service we could provide. With the new place, we’re not limited.”
Kalawsky appreciates his staff and feels that having them and a new building is a winning combination.
“We have a really good group of staff here,” he said. “We all focus on taking care of customers, and with that kind of motto, people come back.
“I believe that we are showing a commitment to the area and that we will be here for the long term and that we want to be. The Kootenays is a great place to be.”
story by: Jody Mendenhall
photo by: Andrew Zwicker
Added on November 17th, 2008
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