Over three years in the making and situated on over 12 acres of land Canada’s largest Ford Dealership officially opened its doors last week. If you’ve driven north on Highway 43 you’ve likely seen it…it’s hard to miss. The final touches, a few delays, and some final additions made way for one last inspection and approval last week.
Our brand new state of the art facility is situated just north of our old building, which had been called home for over 40 years. Along with an improved experience comes an announcement that Windsor Ford has become an official Roush Performance Dealer.
A New Beginning
Charles Longmate, with help from the rest of the Longmate family and current staff, opened the building with a town hall orientation on Sunday, April 7th.
Saying good-bye to a place you’ve called home for over 40 years provided a variety of feelings for staff members new and old but there was little doubt about the excitement on moving into a facility that truly is one of a kind, especially here in Grande Prairie.
Operating out of their old location at 13105 – 100 Street on Auto Row provided some challenges over the years as Windsor continued to grow and it became apparent that sooner, rather then later, there would be a need to find more space.
The new two-story facility includes just that along with some incredible new technology in each department.
The Showroom
Likely the first thing most visitors will see is the new Windsor Ford showroom. Guests can enter the building from the North, East and South sides and will see a handful of new vehicles situated throughout the sales floor.
Gone from the old building are some quirks like the orange tile, West facing windows and afternoon sun (sometimes requiring sunglasses in the showroom), and of course the narrow doors where new vehicles were driven in and out when the sales staff delivered a vehicle to a customer. Those narrow doors provided some interesting stories over the years, to say the least, which ultimately ended in requiring the store’s managers to take over the driving in and out of the showroom doors.
That shouldn’t be a problem inside the new dealership.
In the past the only vehicles that could fit we’re Ford SUV’s and select F-150’s. Now we have the ability to drive in our incredible custom trucks and have them displayed right on the showroom floor.
Roush Performance Dealer
Not to be forgotten is the Roush Performance vehicles on display within the showroom floor. We now have Roush Mustangs, Raptors and of course F-150’s arriving at our new dealership and as they make their way to our dealership you’ll be able to see these performance vehicles throughout the sales floor.
Service
When moving into a state of the art facility it’s easy to be excited but ask the service department just HOW excited they were. What most day to day visitors may not get to see is what is easily the biggest change to Windsor Ford (with a nod to the parts department).
Anyone who’s worked or visited us at our old location knows how long overdue a new service area was needed.
Don’t believe us?
On the left in the image below is our old service area…on the right our new one.
With up to 40 service bays, a new Quick Lane (oil changes, tires, etc), and new Ford technology throughout the building we’re excited to have the ability to accept more service appointments as well as improve the times on regular vehicle maintenance items like oil changes.
Need to book your vehicle in for service?
It’s easy, the first step is to either call us or simply visit us at our location!
Parts
In the Northeast corner of our previous location sat the Windsor Ford Parts Department. Early in April, our Parts team got a head start on the move and for good reason as the most tedious task likely belonged to them having to move all their current inventory and organizing it into the new location.
The new parts area now provides counters for regular and wholesale, more space, and much more availability to meet the growing needs of our growing parts and accessories department. If you’re visiting our new store for the first time you can find wholesale on the Southside and our other parts counter on the North side just next to the service area.
New To The Building
Along with the improvements to each department Windsor Ford also has some new features that will help serve you better.
- Community Table: Unfortunately when visiting a dealer, waiting can be a part of the process. To help improve your experience we’ve got a big beautiful community table (pictured above), with a 9 screen video wall, and free Wi-Fi for our visitors.
- Kids Area: Still in development is a small play area for children to keep themselves entertained while you’re waiting for sales, service or parts.
- Cafeteria: Also still under construction is our small coffee shop/cafeteria. While our old location had great popcorn our staff is quickly realizing the “Windsor Blend” coffee could be a contender for best in the city. Our cafeteria will have beverages and a few small food items.
- Deal Area: We’ve created and provided a comfortable area to sit while you wait on your vehicle. This includes going through the details or your new or used vehicle purchase, financing options, and more. Our deal cubbies have comfortable lounge chairs, free Wi-Fi, and televisions for you.
These are just a few of the current features open (or opening soon) at the new Windsor Ford. As everything becomes available at our new dealership in Grande Prairie we’ll have updates right here on our blog and our social media channels Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & YouTube.
