Kelly Group expands as Woburn becomes its 3rd Nissan ‘store’
WOBURN—It wasn’t surprising to hear that the Kelly Auto Group was holding a grand opening this month for its ninth dealership, Kelly Nissan of Woburn.
What was a surprise was the news that it was another Nissan store, giving Kelly three Nissan outlets. The company also has its original Datsun (now Nissan) store in Beverly and a second successful franchise on Rte.1 North in Lynnfield.
“This opportunity presented itself in June when Group One, headquartered in Houston, called to ask if we’d be interested in buying their Nissan franchise in Woburn,’’ says Brian Kelly, head of the family-owned Kelly group. “Not only were we interested, but we were able to finish the deal and open on Oct. 2.’’
The Kelly Group was hardly that when Kelly’s father, Roland D. Kelly, started a used car lot on Rantoul Street in Beverly in 1965. But it’s been a growing and going concern ever since.
Volkswagen and Fiat (both on Rte. 114 in Danvers) were the most recent additions before this fall’s Nissan opening.
The Kellys’ ties to Nissan go back to 1968 when Brian Kelly and his dad opened that Datsun dealership in Beverly. Kelly Nissan of Beverly now is one of the 10 oldest Nissan dealerships in the country.
The relationship was so strong that, in 1989, Kelly Infiniti of Danvers became the first Infiniti dealership in the United States when Nissan added that luxury brand. “That made us the first Infiniti dealership in the world,’’ Kelly says.
Kelly Nissan of Lynnfield joined the fold in 1996.
The fact that the new Woburn facility was an existing Nissan franchise helps immensely.
“This building [in Woburn] was built to Nissan’s specifications,’’ says Kelly. “It’s a beautiful facility with 32,000 square feet and it’s clearly visible from Rte. 93 South. We’ve done some retiling, built a playroom, and are changing some furniture, but basically this was a turnkey purchase.
“Because everything happened so fast and Group One was extremely gracious in giving us full access to the building ahead of time, we were able to interview their employees,’’ Kelly says. He was able to keep all but two on the payroll.
“We were able to switch people among our Nissan stores to let many of them work at the dealership nearest their homes,’’ he adds.
This kind of flexibility falls into Kelly’s basic business philosophy: “If you take care of your employees, they’ll take care of your customers,’’ says Kelly. “We have good, dedicated employees. It’s as simple as that. If we say we’re going to do something, we do it.’’
While some might wonder if it makes sense to have three Nissan outlets in such a relatively small geographic area, Kelly thinks it’s a great idea for expanding the company footprint.
“They’re far enough apart,’’ he says, “and it opens up the Woburn, Stoneham, Winchester, Burlington, Wilmington, Reading area to us. People like to buy a car from a dealer either close to their home or close to their work. We’re fortunate to be close to the Cummings Industrial properties in both our Woburn and Beverly locations.’’
“We now have one dealership along Rte. 128 (Beverly), another on Rte. 1 (Lynnfield), and now one off Rte. 93 that’s within 10 miles of Boston.
“Second, Nissan is a hot product.We just took delivery of our first new Sentra. The new Altima has been out for six weeks, and the new Pathfinder is coming in a month. That will be a big addition and a big change now that it’s a car-based vehicle.’’
We ran into Kelly on a Saturday afternoon and asked what days he took off.
“I don’t,’’ he says. “I get up every morning anxious to go to work. If my general managers and key people work on the weekends, so can I. I’m always interested to talk to customers and find out what brought them into our showroom.
“I think that people want to do business with someone they feel they know.We’re planning a three-month marketing campaign for the dealership, but the most important thing is to take care of your customers.Word of mouth remains the best advertising and repeat customers are the basis of our success. More than 70 percent—70 PERCENT!—of our customers are repeat business.’’
Kelly has mastered the art of combining business and pleasure.
“In this business you have to go to a lot of dealers’ meetings and factory presentations,’’ he says. “I’ll take my wife and go out a day early and stay a day afterwards .That’s my idea of a vacation.’’
But they don’t last long.
He’s still building.
“I think you’ll see two more projects coming on line in 2013,’’ he says.
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