Moosomin Dodge is open for business
December 21, 2018, 8:01 am
Kevin Weedmark
Moosomin’s newest car dealership is now open.
Moosomin Dodge is located on Highway 8 north, in the former location of Mazergroup. The Dodge dealership moved into the location once Mazergroup completed its new building on the North Service Road facing the Trans-Canada Highway.
The sales department moved into the new location in early December and the first appointments in the service department were last week.
The business is owned by Ron Kaban of Yorkton, who also owns Whitewood Dodge.
When he purchased Whitewood Dodge he decided to open a location in Moosomin, and he may open future dealerships in Esterhazy and Carlyle.
Manager Cody Bruvold said Moosomin Dodge and Whitewood Dodge will operate as separate businesses, and the plan is to retain the Whitewood dealership as well.
“We share inventory and we share some staff, but they are two separate businesses,” he explains. “Our goal is to ensure Whitewood remains viable as well. We’ll do everything we can to keep both locations busy.”
Bruvold said a lot of people have been around to check out the new business.
“Everybody is really happy to have us here. We had a bunch of guys come to check out the place on Saturday. Some brought doughnuts. One of the other dealers emailed me to welcome us to town. I think that’s great. We want to do whatever we can do to work together. We’re all here for the same thing—to make a living and keep our communities alive.”
The former Mazergroup building has been completely renovated to house the new Dodge dealership.
“We’ve done quite well hiring people from Moosomin. The people who are going to care the most are local people,” says Bruvold.
Ron Kaban said he is happy with the new dealership, which has been in the works for two years. “We wanted to be in Moosomin. This is the centre in the area, it’s where things are happening, it’s where we have to be,” he says.
He says the hardest part of setting up a new dealership is getting the right people in place.
“You need the right people,” he said. “We’re very lucky to have been able to find some great people. We have Cody managing this dealership, who has a lot of experience. We’re very fortunate. People are what makes the difference in a successful dealership. You need to have good people and you need to be willing to go above and beyond in customer service.”
Kaban has been in the vehicle business for his entire career. “It’s been a long road for me, and now I get a lot of enjoyment out of putting good people in place and seeing them succeed.”
A grand opening will be planned in 2019.
Other dealers welcome new business
Rob Bradley of Bradley’s GM said he welcomes the new business to town.
“A new business in Moosomin is always good for everybody,” he said. “It helps the community grow, it brings more business to town, it brings consumers to town, and when that happens, everybody benefits.
“With more services, you have more people coming, you might have people moving to town to work there, which helps the community grow.
“Everybody in a small town is always for anything that will add to the community and help drive growth. If you don’t have new businesses coming to town, you’re not going to grow.”
He said that having GM, Ford and Chrysler dealerships in Moosomin, along with the major agriculture dealerships, Case, New Holland, and John Deere, should help Moosomin draw more customers.
“It makes it better for consumers, it’s one-stop shopping—they don’t need to go down the road, all the dealerships are right in town.
“Competition is good for every business. You might change your business model a little bit, how you do things, but it’s good for the consumers who will benefit from the competition, and we’ll have to work harder to earn their business. I always welcome competition.”
“I think it’s great for the community to have another dealer in town,” says Tyler Thorn of Celebration Ford.
“That’s a big business to bring to town. It’ll have a fair number of employees. When you can get a major brand in your community I think that’s a good thing.
“If people want to shop all three brands they can come to Moosomin. We’ve become a pretty rare community, there are not a lot of communities our size that would have all three manufacturers represented. I don’t think many communities our size would have the three brands, and to have the three big ag dealers, too, I don’t know if there’s another town our size that has all of that.
“I think the new dealership is good for the community. It brings more shoppers, it brings more traffic to town, and it makes us have to be that much better.
“Consumers will win. They get better service and better prices. We certainly welcome them. In the long run it will bring more buyers to town and we’ll all prosper because of it.”
