Mazergroup opens new Moosomin facility
July 24, 2018, 1:37 am
Kevin Weedmark
Hundreds of people came out for the grand opening of Mazergroup’s new 25,000 square foot dealership Wednesday.
Bob Mazer said Wednesday that he was happy to be at the grand opening after the work that has gone into the new building.
“It was a long time coming,” he said.
“We did do our due diligence, and that’s why it took as long as it did. I’m ecstatic with the way the facility came out. I’m ecstatic about the location facing Highway 1. I’m very happy with the new building, and I think our staff is going to blossom. It is a nice place to work for our employees, and it should help attract employees.”
Besides greatly enlarging the dealership, Mazergroup has added a NAPA Auto Parts Store to the new dealership.
“It’s going well so far. It’s good already, and it will only get better once we settle in,” said Mazer. “It brings people in the door who would not normally be coming to the building, and it helps with our staffing levels, so we can have five or six or seven parts people, which helps spread out the weekend work during harvest. There’s a huge benefit there. We’re not affecting people’s home lives by asking them to work every second weekend. That’s critical. We have to look after our people so they can have good home lives and it’s not impacted by their work.”
Now that the building has been completed, Mazer said the focus is on building up the business in Moosomin.
“We’ve gone from one to three salespeople in Moosomin, our regional manager is coming here two days a week, and our VP of sales and our director of sales are both spending some time out here helping out, and now it’s just a matter of being very diligent,” he says. “If someone’s looking for something, we need to be able to get it for them, and we can now, because we have some space.
“According to industry numbers, the amount of new equipment sold out of Moosomin is the same as in Brandon.
“We have a lot of room for growth, because we’re in the high teens in market share—the other two guys have over 80 per cent. If we can get to 25 per cent market share we will be happy. We can make a very good business out of that. It might take some time to get there, but I know we will get there. We’ve got good equipment. It’s not just about the equipment, but about building relationships.
“As business grows we will be adding to the staff. I’m guessing we will get to nine or 10 techs and six or seven in parts. We should end up between 15 or 20 people.
“This is the right size for the business we want to do in Moosomin.”
Mazer told the crowd at the grand opening that he is proud to run a family business.
“It’s a family business,” he said. “The Mazer family are the majority owners of Mazergroup, yet we have twenty-some shareholders, and about 98 per cent of them are within our organization. All of our executive are shareholders. We really are very proud to be privately owned. We’re proud to be involved with our communities, like Moosomin, and we will continue to be involved in our communities. We do not move money to Vancouver, or Calgary, or Toronto—it stays within our communities. We’re very pleased to be here in Moosomin, and we’re here for the long term.
“We came here about 14 years ago and we didn’t know at that time what to expect, and lo and behold, 14 years later here we are in a twenty-some thousand square foot facility. We didn’t build it for us. We built it for you—the community and the customer base. We need to earn your business. We always will work towards that. We understand that we have to earn that business.”
Mayor Larry Tomlinson welcomed Mazergroup’s investment in Moosomin.
“It’s a privilege to be asked to speak at this opening,” said Tomlinson. “On behalf of the town of Moosomin, I congratulate Mazergroup on their new building. It’s an awesome facility.
“We’re very proud to have you show the confidence in our town and our surrounding communities to build a facility like this. We wish you the best in the future. I’m sure you will do very well here. On behalf of the town of Moosomin, thank you very much for investing in our town.”
Andrew Marshall, Canadian Sales Manager for New Holland, also spoke. “As I look at all of you and I look at all the faces, I see the next generation of farmers,” he said.
“One of the tenets of the dealership is to be where your customers are, and where they need you to be. We see proof in this facility that the dealership is wanting to invest in this area in order to better service its customers here. Bob, on behalf of New Holland, on behalf of all of our staff, I want to congratulate you on your dedication to New Holland, to your customers, and I want to thank the customers as well for your patronage, for your business.”
