I am in favor of Tesla reducing their stores significantly while not reducing their sales force. Sales should go largely mobile like mobile techs. Sales people drive to you, show you the car, let you drive it etc. I would love it if a mobile sales person could create an event on the spur of the moment and show up at something like a business party or ski slope and just start offering test drives.This is not a new idea. I first heard it over at Now You Know where Jesse and Zac are fond of saying Butts in seats is what sells the cars.
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Tesla Stores
- Thread starter doug
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- Tesla Inc.
srs5694
Active Member
For those in Rhode Island, and perhaps parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, the previously-announced store in Warwick, RI is of interest. Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything about that store in quite a while -- not since before the announcement of a plan to close all the stores, which was subsequently partially reversed, in fact. Yesterday I took a short trip to Warwick to check out the current state of the space, and it's not promising. To begin with, the sign at the side of the road declares that 12,500 sq. ft. of space is available, but the only unoccupied space I saw was the one that's associated with Tesla....
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Note the photo from the Warwick Beacon article to which I linked earlier shows the same "available" notice, but partially covered by the "Spirit Halloween" sign. Thus, it's not clear that the space really is available; they might just have taken down the "Spirit Halloween" sign and not bothered to put up a permanent Tesla sign or otherwise mark the space as having been rented. Still, it's not promising that the space is still being advertised as available, with no "Coming Soon: Tesla" signage.
This unoccupied space, at the end of the strip mall, as yet has no big Tesla sign or any indication that it's anything but vacant space, at least not at a distance....
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Upon approaching it, I did spot a building permit, with Tesla listed as the tenant. The permit is dated February of 2019....
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I didn't take a photo of the interior, but there's basically nothing there that I could see -- just a little stuff scattered about the floor, as is common in vacant retail spaces.
As I live in northern Rhode Island, this location would be a little more convenient than the Dedham or Natick Massachusetts locations, but not hugely so. For others, though, this store would cover a gap in Tesla's retail and service coverage. I hope Tesla is just being slow about opening the store, but I fear they've abandoned plans to open it at all.
View media item 119744
Note the photo from the Warwick Beacon article to which I linked earlier shows the same "available" notice, but partially covered by the "Spirit Halloween" sign. Thus, it's not clear that the space really is available; they might just have taken down the "Spirit Halloween" sign and not bothered to put up a permanent Tesla sign or otherwise mark the space as having been rented. Still, it's not promising that the space is still being advertised as available, with no "Coming Soon: Tesla" signage.
This unoccupied space, at the end of the strip mall, as yet has no big Tesla sign or any indication that it's anything but vacant space, at least not at a distance....
View media item 119742
Upon approaching it, I did spot a building permit, with Tesla listed as the tenant. The permit is dated February of 2019....
View media item 119743
I didn't take a photo of the interior, but there's basically nothing there that I could see -- just a little stuff scattered about the floor, as is common in vacant retail spaces.
As I live in northern Rhode Island, this location would be a little more convenient than the Dedham or Natick Massachusetts locations, but not hugely so. For others, though, this store would cover a gap in Tesla's retail and service coverage. I hope Tesla is just being slow about opening the store, but I fear they've abandoned plans to open it at all.
I don't think Tesla needs a significant number of showrooms. When people ask me about the cars, it's service they ask about, not test drives.
srs5694
Active Member
FWIW, I received an e-mail the other day inviting me to the opening of the Tesla store in Warwick today -- it seems that, contrary to the fear I expressed in my previous post, Tesla has opened the store....
Approaching the Warwick Commons mall , the street sign still doesn't note the presence of the Tesla store, but I expect that will change eventually....
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The store front looks similar to what it did two months ago, but with a new garage door to the left of the retail doors, a big "Tesla" sign, and a change to the color of the facade....
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When I visited, there were quite a few Teslas out front, mostly at the edge of the parking area, plus a little tent. The salesperson said they'd had a bit of a party in the morning with the mayor coming for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, but I missed that.
View media item 120077
The inside of the store is quite spare. It's got a concrete floor, bare walls broken by a few photos, a Model X, a Model 3, and not much else. (There was no Model S on the showroom floor, but at least one was outside.) I saw no sign of displays relating to solar panels or Powerwalls. Maybe it'll be spruced up in the future, but I didn't ask about that.
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The salesperson I spoke to said that this location would be handling test drives and service. I didn't explicitly ask about deliveries, but I expect they'll be doing that, too, which will be very helpful for Rhode Island buyers. (I had a choice of taking delivery of my Model 3 from a store in Mt. Kisco, New York or accepting a home delivery out of the Dedham, MA store. Either way, I had to deal with the DMV paperwork myself. I expect that having a RI store will help streamline that process.) The salesperson said there'd be no Supercharger, or even Tesla Destination charger, at this location, since there's an existing Supercharger just five miles down the road, in East Greenwich. Apparently there'll be an EVSE in the service department, but that won't be for public use. There are public Chargepoint EVSEs in nearby shopping areas, one at a Kohl's and one at the bigger Warwick mall across the street.
Anyhow, this isn't the prettiest of Tesla stores, but I'm glad it's here, both for a closer service center for me and other Rhode Island (and perhaps some Massachusetts and Connecticut) owners, and for (I hope) better delivery/registration process for Rhode Island buyers. I have no idea if this location might be helpful for buyers in eastern Connecticut, or if the Mt. Kisco, New York location will remain the better (or only) option for Connecticut buyers.
Approaching the Warwick Commons mall , the street sign still doesn't note the presence of the Tesla store, but I expect that will change eventually....
View media item 120078
The store front looks similar to what it did two months ago, but with a new garage door to the left of the retail doors, a big "Tesla" sign, and a change to the color of the facade....
View media item 120076
When I visited, there were quite a few Teslas out front, mostly at the edge of the parking area, plus a little tent. The salesperson said they'd had a bit of a party in the morning with the mayor coming for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, but I missed that.
View media item 120077
The inside of the store is quite spare. It's got a concrete floor, bare walls broken by a few photos, a Model X, a Model 3, and not much else. (There was no Model S on the showroom floor, but at least one was outside.) I saw no sign of displays relating to solar panels or Powerwalls. Maybe it'll be spruced up in the future, but I didn't ask about that.
View media item 120075
The salesperson I spoke to said that this location would be handling test drives and service. I didn't explicitly ask about deliveries, but I expect they'll be doing that, too, which will be very helpful for Rhode Island buyers. (I had a choice of taking delivery of my Model 3 from a store in Mt. Kisco, New York or accepting a home delivery out of the Dedham, MA store. Either way, I had to deal with the DMV paperwork myself. I expect that having a RI store will help streamline that process.) The salesperson said there'd be no Supercharger, or even Tesla Destination charger, at this location, since there's an existing Supercharger just five miles down the road, in East Greenwich. Apparently there'll be an EVSE in the service department, but that won't be for public use. There are public Chargepoint EVSEs in nearby shopping areas, one at a Kohl's and one at the bigger Warwick mall across the street.
Anyhow, this isn't the prettiest of Tesla stores, but I'm glad it's here, both for a closer service center for me and other Rhode Island (and perhaps some Massachusetts and Connecticut) owners, and for (I hope) better delivery/registration process for Rhode Island buyers. I have no idea if this location might be helpful for buyers in eastern Connecticut, or if the Mt. Kisco, New York location will remain the better (or only) option for Connecticut buyers.
The Chicago Tesla store was looted last night (10 Aug 2020), or so it appears in this video.
Does anyone know how much damage/inventory loss occurred? Were any cars stolen?
Local insights appreciated . . . but it is just pathetic how so many thugs seem to think that proper behavior is "situational."
Does anyone know how much damage/inventory loss occurred? Were any cars stolen?
Local insights appreciated . . . but it is just pathetic how so many thugs seem to think that proper behavior is "situational."
