Family Automotive Group has acquired a Nissan dealership in Rancho Santa Margarita from New York’s Asbury Automotive Group Inc.
The dealership joins several others as part of San Juan Capistrano-based Family Automotive, including Family Toyota in San Juan Capistrano and Family Honda next to the Nissan lot in Rancho Santa Margarita.
Family Automotive also runs Family Classic Cars, which sells exotics, restored muscle cars and classics in San Juan Capistrano.
Marc Spizzirri, co-owner of Family Automotive with Ray Dixon, declined to say what the Nissan dealership sold for.
The dealership was bought below market value, he said.
Asbury is a big, publicly traded dealership operator and could be in the midst of a deal to go private.
Nissan is strong and its marketing is getting better, Spizzirri said.
Asbury didn’t understand Rancho Santa Margarita, a bedroom community with high service expectations, Spizzirri said.
“We know the market. The market knows us,” he said.
The Nissan dealership wasn’t meeting expectations, said Allen Levenson, vice president of sales and marketing for Asbury.
Asbury doesn’t have many dealerships out here. So the company decided to sell and put the money elsewhere, Levenson said.
Spizzirri spends most of his time at Family Toyota in San Juan Capistrano. His partner, Dixon, lives locally and operates the company’s dealership in Whittier.
The company’s Family Classic Cars moved into a 40,000-square-foot building last year in San Juan Capistrano.
It had planned to expand the dealership in Dana Point. But those plans are on hold pending the city’s rezoning.
New Dealer Group Directors
The Orange County Automobile Dealers Association, based in Costa Mesa, has added four board members.
They are: Stephen Brown of Heritage Lincoln Mercury Mazda in Huntington Beach; Sossi Keuylian, Lamborghini Orange County in Santa Ana; Douglas Spedding, Douglas Hyundai Isuzu Santa Ana, Douglas Nissan Huntington Beach and Douglas Nissan of Orange; and Tom Winterling, Ford of Orange.
The new members join Mark Dershem, Foothill Ranch Chevrolet; Mark Parkinson, Tustin Buick Pontiac GMC Hummer; Clay James, Huntington Beach Dodge; and John Sackrison, executive director of the association.
Upscale Cupcakes
Beverly Hills’ Sprinkles Cupcakes is coming in June to Corona del Mar Plaza.
In case you didn’t notice, cupcakes are the new doughnut.
“People really like cake,” said Charles Nelson, a former investment banker who owns Sprinkles Cupcakes with wife Candace.
The frosting is the kicker, he said.
Sprinkles’ cupcakes are delectable but not cheap,$3.25 each or $36 for a dozen. The bakery uses quality ingredients, such as French chocolate sprinkles instead of the waxy ones, and hormone free butter. Flavors include chai latte and red velvet,chocolate with red-tinted cream cheese frosting.
The cupcakes were featured recently on “Oprah.” Sprinkles had a day’s notice to bake 400 cupcakes for the show.
Nelson said it wasn’t a product placement: “I wouldn’t even know how to go about getting anything on ‘Oprah.'”
Barbra Streisand, a fan of the cupcakes, recommended them to Oprah Winfrey.
Sprinkles decided to expand in Orange County because people were driving up on the weekends to get cupcakes, he said.
Sprinkles has five other bakeries set to open soon in the West and Midwest. Other cupcake bakeries yet to make their way to OC include Magnolia Bakery of New York and Citizen Cupcake of San Francisco.
Just in Time for Summer
Also new to Corona del Mar this summer is Bikini, which opens next to its parent Diane’s, another seller of swimsuits.
Diane Biggs is the owner of the Torrance-based company, which has about 16 stores. One of her suits recently was featured in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition.
American Eagle Offshoot
Martin + Osa, a new chain from Pennsylvania-based American Eagle Outfitters Inc., has signed four leases, including one at Fashion Island.
The Newport Beach store is set to be Martin + Osa’s first in Southern California and is expected to open in the fall. The new chain, unveiled in October, plans to sell sportswear for men and women ages 25 to 40.
Village Doctor
Woodbridge Village Center, a neighborhood shopping center in Irvine, is adding doctors to the mix.
Landlord The Irvine Company said it is offering 20,000 square feet of space in nine offices for doctors and other medical professionals. The company hired Newport Beach-based Medical Realty Advisors to fill the space.
The offices are set for space formerly occupied by Chevy’s and Asia Noodle restaurants.
The center’s tenants include Barnes & Noble, Stein Mart and Woodbridge Auto Wash.
Bits and Pieces:
Coldwater Creek, a women’s clothing and accessory store, is opening next month at South Coast Plaza. Also on its way, Jo Malone London, a skin care and gift store. The store is a West Coast exclusive and set to open this fall The Market Place is getting an upscale, locally owned bridal store, La Soie Bridal Jennifer Pritchard, president of Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc.’s Arden B. division, has resigned for personal reasons. The company has 400 stores including 308 Wet Seal stores and 92 Arden B. stores.
