DAILY MAIL BUSINESS EDITOR
Lester Raines Imports has sold its Nissan franchise to C&O Motors,which is now operating the dealership in St. Albans under the nameLove Nissan.
"This is going to be a good addition for us. We tried to get itand got it worked out with Nissan," said Gene Walker, general managerof C&O Motors
Walker said Love Nissan began operating Dec. 21, which is the daythe deal was completed.
The dealership offers new vehicles, service, parts and auto bodyrepair, although "we're not 100 percent up and operating yet," Walkersaid.
Love Nissan has about 100 cars and trucks in stock.
"That will probably go up to 250 to 300 in stock, probably byMarch," he said.
C&O Motors has a help-wanted advertisement in the Charlestonnewspapers seeking sales people, mechanics, service and partspersonnel.
"We've had a lot of good response," Walker said. "Some experiencedpeople have applied. We've hired a few. We're still in the process ofinterviewing.
"We'll be moving some of our people with us now into differentmanagement positions" at the Nissan dealership, Walker said. "But wewill be hiring some sales, service and mechanics right away. We'reexpecting to sell over 100 Nissans a month. When that happens, we'llprobably need 25 to 30 people."
It is six miles from the former Lester Raines Nissan dealership at5111 MacCorkle Ave. SW. in South Charleston to the new Love Nissandealership at 300 MacCorkle Ave., St. Albans.
Walker said Love Nissan is at the south end of the St. Albansbridge.
"It's in the building where the C&O Motors dealership wasestablished in the 1940s," he said.
The property most recently was C&O Motors' truck lot. "We movedthe trucks back to their original location, with General Motorscars," Walker said.
Nissan was placed at the end of C&O Motors' lots so it would haveits own identity and be separate from the company's other franchises,he said.
C&O Motors, owned by James Love III, carries General Motorsproducts, including Chevrolet and Oldsmobile. C&O also is the parentof Love Toyota and Love Lexus.
"When we acquired Nissan, it was a given we would call it LoveNissan," Walker said.
The St. Albans dealerships owned by James Love have a total ofabout 190 full-time employees, Walker said.
Lester Raines Nissan employed six sales people and nine or 10people in parts and service, said Dave Cunningham, the former Nissansales manager at Lester Raines.
"We still have all of our employees," Cunningham said. "We didn'thave to let anybody go."
The employees have been reassigned to other Lester Rainesdealerships, he said.
Lester Raines continues to operate Honda, Mazda, Daewoo andMitsubishi dealerships near the South end of the Dunbar Bridge inSouth Charleston. The Honda dealership recently underwent a majorremodeling. Lester Raines operated the Nissan dealership for aboutnine years, Cunningham said.
Cunningham said Lester Raines does plan on replacing the Nissandealership with another product. He referred questions to LesterRaines III, the owner of the Lester Raines dealerships. Raines couldnot be reached for comment this morning.
Dean Case, a spokesman for Nissan's North American headquarters,was asked why the dealership changed hands.
"It's an independent business," he said. "If they decide to sell,they can do that. It has to be cleared through our office to makesure we're comfortable with who's buying it, but we're not in theretail business. We sell to independent business people. If theydecide to sell a franchise, it is not up to us."
Writer George Hohmann can be reached at 348-4836 or by e-mail atbusiness@dailymail.com.
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