Wayne Toyota Dealership Expands To Serve
Customers Better
by Scott A. Sumner
If you are a long time resident of Thunder Bay you will remember what the Intercity area looked like in the late 70’s - mostly open land with few buildings. One of the first buildings in the area, at what is now the corner of Balmoral and 10th Ave, was Wayne Toyota. The car dealership started in 1978, expanded in 1987 and now is completed their third expansion always on this site.
“ When we started there wasn’t much here just the Wheelies Roller Rink next door, which is now Smith’s RV Centre. The area was mostly open swampland and now it is unbelievable. We added land to our site starting with two small lots, and then buying a piece to give us access
to 10th Ave. We also bought some land in front of us. Today we have about 3 acres. Our building started as 7000 square feet and is now 20,000 square feet in size.,” said Wayne Marostica, founder and now General Manager of Wayne Toyota.
Michael Marostica, the son of Wayne, is now the Dealer Principal at Wayne Toyota. The 32 year old was born in 1980 after the start of the business by his father! Michael started out at Wayne Toyota washing cars and cutting grass at the age of 12 years old and in his early 20’s began selling cars. Michael went to Lakehead University graduating from the commerce program with a major in marketing and then went away to school at Washington, DC taking basically a Masters Degree in Automotive Management to give him a wider understanding of the industry. Michael slowly moved up in responsibility and became the dealer principal in 2008 some 4 years ago, taking over from his dad.
Another important member of the team at Wayne Toyota is Jodie Krupa who is related to the Marostica’s and has been at the company for 10 years. Previously Jodie who is a chartered accountant, was in public accounting, a controller at the Valhalla Inn and even worked for
Revenue Canada so brought some different skills to Wayne Toyota. “ We all have different strengths and can jump in when needed. Wayne had a long history in the car business so it is a good dynamic to help to know what to expect.” said Jodie Krupa.
Today Wayne Toyota has about 30 employees. “ You are running a multitude of businesses in one- new vehicle, used vehicle, parts, service, finance and leasing areas all of which are independent and profit centers,” said Wayne Marostica. “ It is quite complex. The automotive business is a big part of the economy. In Thunder Bay we have the highest concentration of auto dealers in the country. By that I mean we have all the brands, which isn't so in all cities. That is a
reflection of the strength of Thunder Bay and it also makes it very competitive because there are so many out there. The consumer can go any where to other dealers in the province or even in the US especially when the currency was low.”
We did the expansion to service our customer better as customer satisfaction is really important to us. A bigger facility means we can get you in and out quicker and people when they walk in will have a whole feel of customer friendly. This expansion has redefined the way we do things. In the past we were more of a smaller dealer and you go through growing pains to get to become a bigger dealer. All this is for our customers to help service them better.,” said Michael Marostica.
Wayne Toyota now has a complete new show room and waiting area, a new parts department and a service drive through.
“ The combination of Toyota and us determined the best way to set up. Toyota has been number one worldwide. It has been a challenge when you are number one as everyone comes after you but Toyota has been a great company to work with. They see the customers first, the dealer second and Toyota third. They have been very helpful in all issues, say with the recalls in the past and the earthquake and problems in Japan and Thailand that set them back. They have come a long way recently after the destruction when some of their plants were destroyed. Toyota
is huge. They like the US and Canada markets. Canada is the 3rd or 4th market in the world for them.,” said Wayne Marostica.
The renovation has been ongoing at Wayne Toyota for several years. The company even had to move hydro lines, which took a year, to expand their service area. “ I appreciate what our customers have gone through with our expansion. Right now my sales department is working outside in a trailer and I know that is not easy to buy cars. The community has supported us as we have moved areas around in the dealership and continued to use us, ” said Michael Marostica. “ The customers are excited about the improvements. We have customers now still with us
from 1978, it has been wonderful. This expansion would never have happened without our customers.”
There are some exciting new cars coming out for Toyota in 2012. The Prius C is a hybrid just newly released. It is a nice little small car and in terms of mileage you get up to 80 miles per gallon with city driving. Toyota has leading technology in hybrid technology and Wayne Toyota have sold the first two Prius C cars on their lot right away.“ We have the full line up with Toyota as a full-scale manufacturer from sub compact to full sized trucks. We have a vehicle for every purpose,” said Wayne Marostica who has been a director of the Ontario Dealers Association for the last 6 years and knows the overall automobile industry well.
“ I think the Toyota brand is great and we have a great customer base. Thunder Bay itself has gone through struggles but I think it is coming back quite nicely with the medical area, mining and education. The Ring of Fire is bringing in money to the economy. Thunder Bay is definitely not shrinking and we will be strong as we move forward,” said Michael Marostica.
“ At Wayne Toyota we will have now have more inventory which will allow us to sell more vehicles. I think the experience people will feel when they come into the new dealership will help sales as we more forward and service our customers. That is the most important thing. You are only here because of your customers. We built a facility to help with that.”
The new Wayne Toyota is a state of the design for Toyota in 2012 that allows you to instantly recognize them as a Toyota dealer. “ It is all done for our customers. We are doing it for the customers but we couldn’t have done it with out them. We are moving forward because of our faith the community is going to grow and our faith in our customers.” said Wayne Marostica.
It took several years for the Wayne Toyota dealership expansion to take place with a lot of planning. Cory Stechyshyn is a partner with Form Architecture Engineering and worked on the design of the new Wayne Toyota.
“ Wayne Toyota basically out grew their space and needed to conform to the global imaging of Toyota. Omni Plan from down east is an automotive planning company that developed the corporate image for the facility and then we took that image and amended it to work with the
site and the existing building to allow them to make their services work as they would like,” said Cory Stechyshyn.
“ Wayne Marostica is extremely aware of energy efficiency and we over insulated the building above what the code required which is good and they should feel it with reduced energy costs for heating and cooling. The envelope of a building is very important with energy costs
today,” said Stechyshyn.
“ The new building is very well positioned on the lot in their location and Wayne Toyota are here to stay for a long time bringing themselves up to date if not ahead of the times for dealerships today. They were even able to include some new tiles and other products just being approved by Toyota for their look,” said Cory. “ Wayne and Jody were involved for 2 years prior to us. We took the original plan from Omni Plan and shaped it to the site and then Toyota reviewed it. We
did some material changes to make a more northern statement by adding some stone around the base to give it more durability and to stand up to the weather.”
“ The builder, Les Fairall, is very reliable and knowledgeable and resolved everything with the trades with less of our involvement. He was able to move the trades around to allow Wayne Toyota to remain open, dealing with the public during the construction,” said Cory. “ We are proud of the work. It was a great project to be involved with and turned out really well.”
