Windham Motor Company getting facelift

Windham Motor Company is getting a new look thanks to a modeling project that will be completed in January 2013.

“We’re redoing the whole store. A lot of people still don’t know that we are remodeling,” Tyler Windham, owner of the Demopolis dealership, said of the project that began in June. “I had folks ask me, ‘Are you going out of business? Where are all your cars?’”

The dealership has relocated its inventory to the side of the building while it awaits for the remodel on its facility to be completed, an overhaul that includes the extension of the concrete surface in front of the structure.

“We’re a GM franchise, so we have to comply with their image programs. It was kind of brought on by GM wanting us to look all the same,” Windham said, pointing to General Motors’ desire for all of its dealerships to have a recognizable look. “It’s pretty much ripping it down to the frame. It’s going to be a new facility. It is going to give this end of town a facelift.”

Windham indicated the remodel is the first of its kind for Windham Motor Company, which opened its doors at the intersection of U.S. Hwy 43 and U.S. Hwy 80 in 1979.

“Other than putting the roof line on, this will really be the first major facelift to the building,” he said.

While the construction is ongoing, Windham Motor Company is continuing to offer its full line of services. The end result, however, will allow the entity to expand its available services, something Windham believes is important to the dealership’s standing in the community.

“We’re the only dealer in the county. If we’re not here, you’ve got to drive an hour to get somewhere to buy a car or get a car repaired. The community has done a great job of supporting. We’ve got a strong relationship with the community and hopefully this will strengthen it by having a new facility and being able to offer more services,” Windham said of the upgrades, changes he guarantees will not alter the company’s pricing structure. “It is going to help us expand our offerings as far as repair work. A lot of people still don’t know that we’re in the tire business. We sell tires here. With the remodel, we just put in a new state-of-the-art alignment machine to do front end alignments. We’re going to be able to really be a full service repair facility. Before we just did the major repairs and the oil changes. Now, every repair aspect of a car we can do.”