CUYAHOGA FALLS – The addition of a new service area helped Cascade Audi meet the needs of its expanding client bases, owner Pat Primm says.
Work on the 20,000-square-foot expansion began in 2019 with the acquisition of the former Big Apple, Akron Agora and Boot Scoot’n Saloon properties in Cuyahoga Falls. Part of the dance floor of the saloon was kept intact and was made into a decorative wall for the space where cars are prepared for delivery.
The service area now includes 19 lifts and two flat bays and a five-stall detail shop, and also provides the parts department with twice the storage capacity.
“When we opened at the end of March 2020, we doubled our capacity and were able to quickly schedule appointments for our customers,” Primm says. “The size of the facility also helped us grow the geographic footprint we could draw from, attracting Audi owners from Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown.”
Opening a week after shutdown orders were put in place posed challenges, but none Cascade Audi couldn’t overcome, according to Primm.
Such measures included pickup and delivery of cars in need of service and paying by credit card over the phone, eliminating the need for face-to-face contact. Every vehicle is sanitized before and after work is completed, including wrapping the steering wheel and seats in plastic and using a cleaning spray on all surfaces, Primm says.
Cascade also uses an online service scheduling platform, which saw a growing number of users last year, he adds.
“We have many owners in the Mahoning Valley and western Pennsylvania who have been buying Audis from us for years,” Primm says. “This makes servicing their vehicle easier than ever before and that is a key part of our growth strategy.”