RVBusiness, July/August 2020

BY SHERMAN GOLDENBERG As luck would have it New Jersey RV dealers John and Jim Lenzo were able to complete construction work on their new 50000 square foot Colonial Airstream RV store right before pandemic related shutdowns took effect in New Jersey and elsewhere throughout the country That meant that Colonial Airstreams top single location dealer for nine out of the last 10 years and a frequent recipient of Winnebagos Circle of Excellence awards avoided inevitable construction delays on a project launched in 2017 in Millstone Township N J mid way between New York and Philadelphia The new facility about a half hours drive north of their former Lakewood N J outlet carries both towable and motorized Airstreams and Winnebago motorhomes especially Class Bs In the big picture the timing was actually good said John whose dealerships first store launched in 1995 initially specialized in high end late model cars and trucks before RVs entered the picture in 2002 And the reason why I say that is because if our timing was off a little bit maybe a few months I wouldnt have been able to complete the building All construction stopped in New Jersey he added and people werent allowed in the building You know it was insanity and everything would have been in flux So our timing when we moved in in January was just about perfect Unfortunately of course we couldnt let people into our brand new building for a time but weve dealt with it Bottom line we consider ourselves fortunate that were here and were not in our old facility and still looking to try to build it 40 RVBusiness J U L Y A U G U S T 2 0 2 0 Thats not to say that everything worked out so well with their plans for a grand opening reception and 25th anniversary party which like so many things these days has been delayed until fall or later when people can more easily travel to central New Jersey Yeah we obviously waited to see how things were going to play out John told RVBusiness But we got the call from Airstream that basically all of their employees had stopped flying And that was pretty much the ultimate decision because we needed our top guys from Airstream here So thats kind of what had happened that and we technically couldnt operate safely with a crowd in the building So were looking forward to our grand opening but its put off for right now Were thinking in the fall but we cant put a date on it yet The main impetus for the new store which has been experiencing an explosion in demand lately for RV sales and service work like a lot of other U S dealerships in the wake of the pandemic shutdown was the simple fact that Colonial had outgrown its facilities The Lenzo brothers had been looking for a new location for several years In the state of New Jersey noted John thats a little difficult because theres not much land and we needed plenty of land for that The Lenzo brothers eventually acquired three adjacent properties about four miles off the New Jersey turnpike and after a lengthy permit process designed a store that included an eight to 10 unit indoor showroom and a more extensive 20 bay 18000 square foot service department on New Jersey Route 33 The new Colonial Airstream occupies about 12 acres and 50000 square feet versus the old Lakewood stores four acres and 10000 square feet of interior In the new stores showroom meanwhile is an Airstream trailer cutaway in which the dealership displays apparel and other merchandise We took an Airstream and we sent it out to Washington State to have it cut in half lengthwise and they put all kinds of shelving and lighting and they did a remarkable job where the top of it is actually kind of suspended if you will said Jim And were selling apparel and things like that out of it When you walk into the showroom it a real eye catcher The parts department was also dramatically enlarged at Colonial a dealership that according to the Lenzo brothers has garnered exceptional CSI ratings over the years thanks to its long tenured staff Well we wanted it laid out a certain way because we had learned from our past experiences at our Lakewood facility about how we thought things should flow said John We did a lot of studying We traveled to a lot of other dealers to look at how they ran their facilities We called a lot of friends and people in the business to learn about some best practices And we kind of laid out the dealership the best possible way So when people come in its clear where they go when they bring units in for service he explained Theres a separate delivery area and a beautiful showroom But the point is that we were able to lay out this building from Colonial Airstream RV Completed its New Store Construction in Nick of Time Even if Grand Opening was Postponed John left and Jim Lenzo inside the showroom of their new Colonial Airstream RV continued on page 50