It’s been an interesting and successful partnership for the Southland Automotive Group and the Prestige Automotive Group since they joined together to open a major-sized Volkswagen dealership in Edmonton and a smaller store in the West Edmonton Mall.
The official ribbon cutting ceremony for the mall store was last week, nine months after it opened, with Volkswagen Canada President Edgar Estrada in attendance. Bob Aaltonen, Founder/President of the Southland Automotive Group, told Canadian auto dealer the partnership happened because Volkswagen wanted to open a standalone store in Edmonton.
That interested many dealership groups, so Aaltonen and Prestige Auto Group President Jim Jiwani put together a proposal in which they would operate a Volkswagen store on land owned by Prestige that was its former Toyota anchor store. It was relocated to the mall in 2020. The proposal also included both groups owning and operating the VW mall store.
Aaltonen said it made good business sense for both groups, because Jiwani wanted to add Volkswagen to the brands he retailed and had experience owning a dealership in the mall and a relationship with its management. Aaltonen had a long history with Volkswagen Canada, including owning a dealership in Alberta. He’s also been Chairman of its National Dealer Advisory Council. And he lives in Edmonton and owns another brand store there.
Aaltonen said there is no way he could have done this without Jiwani. “It was kind of a casual whim thing at first, but we each needed each other, so we decided to run with it.”
“I couldn’t have made a better decision because we’ve come up with a pretty amazing concept between the main store, which is huge, and our mall store. The competition for the main store was so intense. We had to up our game and decided to present Volkswagen with the idea of the mall store based on the learnings from Prestige’s side,” he said.
Aaltonen added that having the main location and the extra concept of a mall location was something that Volkswagen “really, really wanted to try.”
Jiwani said a chance meeting with Aaltonen a few years ago quickly revealed their visions were aligned in building something extraordinary at the old Toyota store.
“Since then we’ve exceeded expectations,” said Jiwani. “The new dealership, along with the concept at the West Edmonton Mall, has provided us with a unique platform to drive Volkswagen’s growth in Alberta.”
The main store, which opened in March 2023, is 5,016 square metres and has the biggest footprint of any Volkswagen Canada dealership. The mall store is 325 square metres, which Aaltonen said was the most that could fit in the middle of the corridor. (It’s located in the walkway in the busiest part of the mall.) There is also a test-drive location outside.
Aaltonen had never had a full-time mall store in his 25 years in the business, though he has had some experience, including a four-month rental in a store.
“I would say the traffic is what we expected it would be, but the experience is completely different,” said Aaltonen. “It puts us in contact with so many more people than a regular dealership, where we rely on people to walk in when they’re ready — but just haven’t found the right vehicle, or found something that meets their budget, or haven’t found somebody they are comfortable to talk with.”