It’s just a trailer, some tall grass and dirt roads. But it’s just enough to introduce Wesley Chapel Boulevard to yet another car dealership as Chevrolet of Wesley Chapel moves in.
The dealership is located next to Hyundai of Wesley Chapel just northeast of Progress Parkway, and is part of the same ownership group as the Hyundai dealership and nearby Mazda of Wesley Chapel.
“We really think that Chevy has done a great job, and they have a great product now,” said John Gauvey, general manager of the dealership. “We felt it was a great complement to our Hyundai and Mazda stores, and we knew there were a lot of Chevy owners who wanted someplace close-by to get their cars serviced.”
While the name and location might be new, the business itself is nearly 40 years old. The dealership was most recently known as Sparkman Chevrolet, but for more than three decades was known as Buddy Foster Chevrolet, located east on State Road 54, just outside of Zephyrhills.
The Sparkman family, which twice owned a small chain of convenience stores called Sparky’s Food Stores based out of Plant City, purchased Buddy Foster in 2011, but decided not to stay in the car sales business for long.
Last year, the Sparkman family sold its Bartow Chevrolet dealership, and made it clear they were entertaining offers for its Zephyrhills location.
Gauvey wouldn’t say how much his group paid for the dealership, but they have big plans on its future in Wesley Chapel. What is now a side lot next to the Hyundai center is expected to become a state-of-the-art dealership facility by mid-2015.
For now, the dealership is servicing Chevrolet and other General Motors cars through its Mazda service center, located just on the other side of the Hyundai dealership.
The three brands most certainly complement each other, Gauvey said, and there are a lot of benefits of selling all three cars under the same ownership umbrella.
“Cars are cars, but who you buy it from is really important,” he said. “We’ve had tremendous success by building relationships, and people drive from all over to get that experience.”
The same ownership team also owns Hyundai of New Port Richey on U.S. 19, which they say is the No. 1 Hyundai dealer in the country in terms of volume.
The new Chevrolet of Wesley Chapel is located at 26931 Progress Parkway in Wesley Chapel.
