Major Car Dealers to Launch Car Superstores

02/09/96

Reuters reported that nine of the nations bigger auto dealers from around the country have banded together to launch a chain of car superstores called Driver's Mart Worldwide, Inc. The Dealers follow the lead of Circuit City who started CarMax, the first car superstore, in October 1993 and Blockbuster founder Wayne Huizenga who announced plans to start a car superstore chain called AutoNation USA last November.

Driver's Mart Worldwide, Inc has had a pilot store operating in Neenah Wisconsin for about two months, and plans to have eight locations across the country by the end of the year. Within the next 5 years, Driver's Mart expects more than 100 stores nationwide with somewhere between 450 and 650 late model cars and truck for sale at every location.

Driver's Mart Worldwide will be headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI. Major players and the big investors in the company are eight auto dealers from different places who, all tolled, operate more than 100 new car dealerships with incomes of $3 billion; company chairman Donald Flow, president of Winston-Salem's Flow Automotive Cos., which operates nine vehicle franchises; and CEO Thomas Eggleston, former CEO of Amway Asia Pacific, Ltd.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel