Mercedes targets growth with second dealership
The nation’s poorest large metropolitan area is about to get a second Mercedes-Benz dealership.
But the construction of this one starts Wednesday in an economic gold seam of the Memphis area: Near the border of the affluent suburbs of Collierville and Germantown.
Mercedes-Benz of Collierville should open by first quarter next year at 4651 S. Houston Levee Road, next to the Carriage Crossing shopping center.
Trudy HigginbothamMoody of Jackson, Miss., and her father, Dennis Higginbotham of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., are opening the family’s third dealership.
Question is, can Greater Memphis support both the new and the existing Mercedes-Benz of Memphis at 5389 Poplar? Only 13 miles will separate them.
“I have no comment,” said Gunter Stephan, owner of the East Memphis dealership that recently completed a $1. 3 million renovation.
“Mercedes-Benz USA is who determines markets and they control the franchises,” said Trudy Higginbotham-Moody, who will be president of the Collierville dealership. “They are the ones who analyzed the areas where there are opportunities to grow their brand.
‘ ‘ They don’t expand too often, but they are in a growth mode. They have lots of new products coming and in the next 10 years have big growth projected.
“They looked at some areas and determined that Memphis is a prime spot to add another dealership, to the east.”
The decision to open a second Mercedes dealership could be a sign of pent-up demand from people who are growing more confident about their job security and the economy, said Jeff Wal- lace, research associate professor with the University of Memphis’ Sparks Bureau of Business and Economic Research.
“A lot of folks have been sitting on cash,” he said.
About 40 percent of Greater Memphis households are considered poor or low i ncome. But “there’s quite a few wealthy individuals in this town,” Wallace said.
“If you look at which way the population is moving in the local area, it is moving to the east. One of the next areas to really take off in economic development will probably be Fayette County and to an extent Marshall County (Miss.),” Wallace said.
Yes, the new dealership will offer the $225,000 SLS model, HigginbothamMoody acknowledged, but is “real excited” to sell the incoming, entry-level CLA’s for under $30,000.
“And we are very large pre-owned dealers. There’s no limit to our market ... That’s a big part of our business,” she said.