The Woodward News

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May 9, 2012

Shattuck business sets grand re-opening on Friday

Jessica Bruha Woodward News

Woodward, Okla. — SHATTUCK - If you have visited downtown Shattuck lately, it would be hard to miss the newly remodeled Jess Wales Chevrolet building.

Remodeling began in October 2011 and a grand re-opening is set for Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Jess Wales, owner of the dealership, said they will be cooking lunch and everyone is invited to come. In June, the business will mark its 11th year in Shattuck.

"We believe by doing this, our business will be here for a very long time," he said. "I believe in this area, I really do. It's quite an investment for me. These people out here have been great to us"

The remodeling project was in conjunction with a General Motors (GM) re-imaging program involving dealerships across the country.

"If you drive down the street and see a Chevrolet store, you can tell it's a Chevrolet store," which is what GM owners want, Wales said. "Most Chevy stores are going to look exactly like this to some extent."

Wales said the program came at a good time because the building needed to be remodeled anyway.

"The facility was 55 years old," he said.

The building was completely gutted, the second story was taken out and the whole exterior build was redone. There is now a conference room, training room, private finance office, new restrooms, and the shop was also expanded.

The training room will benefit the company as there are a number of GM programs that dealerships are required to participate in and excel and those programs all involve a lot of training, Wales said.

The dealership won the GM Mark of Excellence in 2011, which is a program that deals mainly with customer satisfaction.

"I've been really fortunate with the quality of people that work here," he said.

During the first 6 months of the renovation of the main building, offices were temporarily set up in a building next door that Wales had bought about 8 years ago for storage.

That building was also redone once the dealership was able to move its offices back into the main building. Now the building will be used to display accessories.

Some of the issues they faced were not only the age of the building but also privacy matters. The finance manager used to be on the showroom floor and Wales he would sometimes share his office to allow more privacy.

The old facility also only had one men's restroom which was located in the service department. With the remodel, they now have 3. Another addition includes a Wi-Fi center so customers can use their laptops when their vehicle is getting serviced, he said.

Overall, Wales said he feels fortunate to be in Northwest Oklahoma because the people here are "the best." He's also happy with the growth of the community.

"We're really happy with the growth in Shattuck," he said. "I think the community will continue to grow, we have a great school system and a lot of good people."

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