Group makes more room for marque

A dealer group is celebrating the revamp of its Skoda showroom and in-house cafe, saying the changes have given all of its businesses a lift.

Farmer Autovillage in Mount Maunganui recently completed work to modernise the two areas that are part of its central hub on Hewletts Rd.

Michael Farmer, group managing director, says the changes were to ensure the building and representation of the Skoda marque are kept up to date. 

“The main part of the building here houses Skoda and as that brand is growing this work was done to allow a larger showroom area for its cars,” he explains. 

“It was also a chance to expand our central in-house cafe, which is utilised by customers and the general public.

“The whole area has been modernised and now there’s a lot of natural light coming through. One challenge businesses face is keeping a showroom warm or cool and we’ve installed air conditioning and the cafe has heated floors.”

The commercial cafe seats about 40 people and Farmer says opening it to the public provides good exposure to the dealership.

He adds the renovation work at the site started in January this year and was completed in July.

“It is never easy renovating a central area but we screened off the main area for four months while the work was being done and tried to keep all the noisy and dirty work for after hours when we didn’t have customers coming into the showroom.

“Now the work is finished, it looks magnificent. The central hub can be seen pretty much from most of the dealership’s showrooms and it gives the whole place a lift.”