Car showroom opening set to create more than 100 jobs
More than 100 jobs will be created in Rochdale with the opening of a car dealershipl
Car supermarket chain The Trade Centre Group is set to add its sixth outlet before the end of the year, opening up a new North West region with a 1,000 car site on the former Homebase store site on Sandbrook Park.
It will be the first Trade Centre UK store based on a retail park and the company has also purchased a nearby ex-franchised dealership site to facilitate logistics and a state-of-the-art customer care suite.
The Trade Centre Group currently operates five car supermarkets, three in South Wales branded The Trade Centre Wales and two in the West Midlands branded Trade Centre UK.
Chairman and founder, Mark Bailey, said: “The opening of our first outlet in the North West is strategically significant as we ready the business to expand across the UK.
“If you put the pin in the map for a perfect North West location from which to retail cars you couldn’t do better than being placed right at the gateway to Rochdale with superb accessibility for value-driven car shoppers in towns across the region. We are delighted to be developing the site.”
Chief executive Andy Coulthurst added: “As a Rochdale lad myself, I am massively excited that we have been able to bring our unique concept to the town and I know that the store will be a huge success.
“We are armed with a record marketing budget to play out across TV, radio, digital, outdoor and print, ensuring that we are a household name in the North West within weeks of opening.”
The group has already begun recruiting more than 100 staff, mainly in customer-facing roles, but also some technicians, logistics operatives and drivers.
Chief operating officer, Andy Wildy, said: “Apart from a handful of managers relocating to the region we will be recruiting a fresh local retail team, with an emphasis on non-automotive experience.
“Our academy will train candidates from backgrounds such as call centres, retail banking and high street retail to become successful car sales executives, business managers and finance administrators.
He added: “Our blueprint for recruitment is fine-tuned, we have more than 300 customer-facing employees in the business that had never been in car retail before joining Trade Centre and they are all enjoying huge success”
The Trade Centre Group, founded by Mark Bailey and 100% owned by the Bailey family, has expanded rapidly over the past four years, growing turnover from £77m in 2015, to £257m in 2018.
