NEXT month’s Commonwealth Games and a need to interact with potential buyers has led to a Queensland BMW and Mini dealership opening a full-service store within the recently renovated Pacific Fair shopping centre on the Gold Coast.

Gold Coast BMW and Mini Garage opened almost two weeks ago and held its official opening last week.

The dealership’s group marketing manager Shayne Locke said the store had already attracted a large number of visitors.

“It is a conventional shop that has been leased mainly for the expected influx of visitors to the Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games that open on April 4,” he told GoAutoNews Premium.

Mr Locke said the idea to start a store within the shopping centre began as a way to combat the expected increase in traffic expected during the Commonwealth Games.

“This has been the result of the vision of the dealer principal Kathleen Broadway. She wanted to repeat the dealership experience but in a high-traffic area that gave the product maximum visibility,” he said.

Ms Broadway said: “We believe that customer service is the key especially during exciting times like the Commonwealth Games when access may become limited.

“With customers being concerned about moving around during that busy period, we developed the concept behind the new store to bring the dealership to the heart of the Games,” she said.

Mr Locke said many people expected it to be a pop-up store.

“In fact it’s a full store and offers much, much more,” he said.

The store has the ability to sell vehicles, has a large range of lifestyle products and arranges test drives from the centre’s valet service.

“We change the cars every week, so there’s always something new for the weekly shopper,” he said.

It was anecdotally described at the launch last week by AMP Capital – which owns and manages Pacific Fair as well as 17 other shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand – as one of the best car outlets in its portfolio.

In 2016, AMP spent $670 million redeveloping the centre, adding 50,000 square metres to take the area to 155,000sq.m and making Pacific Fair, with 420 stores, the fourth-largest shopping centre in Australia.

“We have deliberately gone into this shop with the aim to raise the bar,” Mr Locke said about rival businesses.

“We have the Games in mind as being the prime reason why we are here, though it is an open-ended program and, based on the success, we may consider extending the lease.

“In the store we have change rooms for people to try on merchandise such as t-shirts, for example. So we have created a retail environment, not just a car show.”

Mr Locke said the store has three-to-four staff in attendance, depending on the peak shopping times.

“The weekends, for example, are very busy and we’ve noticed that the lifestyle products and merchandising is particularly popular,” he said.

As a promotion at the centre, Gold Coast BMW and Mini Garage has partnered with Event Cinemas to offer prospective car buyers a double pass invitation to see the Steven Spielberg movie Ready Player One.

Pacific Fair also hosts an Infiniti store and regularly leases new-car displays in one of the shopping centre’s open areas.

By Neil Dowling