Española dealer rode out remodel
ESPAÑOLA – A complete makeover of the Henry Valencia Chevrolet Buick GMC dealership in Española was long overdue, said owner Margaret Valencia-Whiting. Things had gotten so bad that employees hated to see it rain.
“The roof leaked,” Valencia-Whiting said. “When it would rain, we used to wonder if it was going to be flooded when we came in.”
After a massive, six-month remodeling process, however, that’s all changed, she said.
“But now we come in, it’s warm, it’s clean, it’s dry,” Valencia-Whiting. “It’s really nice. We’re loving it. We decorated like it was before so it’s nice and homey.”
Construction began in September 2015 and for the most part was done by March, “but there are still things we’re doing,” she said with a chuckle.
The showroom was pushed out to make it more spacious and airy. Additional customer space was added with new offices for sales people and for services. All the carpet was replaced with tilework.
Of course, when a lot of work is done to a building, especially an old one, surprises tend to pop up.
“This is an old building,” Valencia-Whiting said. “It used to be a metal warehouse. Over the years, it’s just been added onto. When we started taking it apart, we had to put everything back to code.”
And sometimes that was more than the old building could handle.
“Everything that was touched, broke,” she said. “So everything is new, pretty much new.” During the construction phase of the project, all the offices operated out of mobile homes, which was definitely a challenge, Valencia-Whiting said.
“It was very hard,” she said. “It was an inconvenience for our customers, and our employees, especially during the rain or snow. It was very dusty, but we knew it was temporary. We all had a lot of patience.”
It was particularly difficult when customers brought in vehicles for service, but everybody pulled together.
“We just tried to keep them entertained through ourselves,” Valencia-Whiting said. “Or we took them home or back to work. We tried not keep them here so we offered them rides back to where they wanted to go. But some people just wanted to stay so they could talk to each other. So it was pretty cool to see everybody staying and having a powwow. They all had smiles on their faces.”