Fletcher Jones Motorcars long has been the standard of luxury service in Orange County. But Dallas-based Park Place Dealerships, which just bought Park Place Lexus Mission Viejo, wants to spice up an already competitive luxury market.
Park Place is to Dallas what Fletcher Jones is to OC. The luxury dealer group, founded in 1987, models itself after high-end businesses such as the Ritz Carlton Co. and Nordstrom Inc. Employees are known as “members.”
Park Place Chief Executive Kenneth Schnitzer said he’s been interested in the OC market for a long time. For several years, he’s been letting people know that he wanted to buy a dealership here. Finally, he inspired a sale.
Schnitzer, a Houston native, has checked out his rivals here and said he’s friends with most owners and general managers, including Ted Jones, owner of Fletcher Jones.
“But business is business,” he said. “We want to be the preferred dealer. We want to be one of the top 20 Lexus dealers in the country.”
Park Place will compete directly with Newport Lexus, which opened a palatial dealership in Newport Beach nearly two years ago, Lexus of Westminster, which upped the ante with the opening of its newly remodeled and expanded dealership this year, and Mercedes-Benz of Anaheim, which also expanded and opened a new dealership in Anaheim this year.
The Lexus brand recently surpassed Mercedes as the top-selling luxury brand in OC, based on registrations. BMW, led by Santa Ana-based Crevier BMW, is the third top luxury brand.
Still, Park Place has its work cut out here. Fletcher, the No. 2 dealer in the nation, sold 6,568 new autos and 2,147 used autos in 2006.
Schnitzer plans to expand the sales and service area of the 8-acre Mission Viejo spread. The dealership will add 60 service bays and have more onsite parking.
Park Place’s claim to fame: Park Place Lexus won the small business 2005 Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, a prestigious award established by the former secretary of commerce in 1987 to honor any type of business for service.
“It’s not an industry award,” Schnitzer said.
The president gives it out.
“Many of our clients understand the value of the award,” he said.
Vice President Dick Cheney handed the award to Schnitzer.
Schnitzer said he pursued the award, which is a lengthy process, because it modeled the way he aspired to do business.
Schnitzer also knows Mercedes-Benz,he has two Mercedes dealerships. He’s got 10 dealerships altogether, including a Maserati dealership, a Bentley and Rolls Royce.
Schnitzer didn’t think he’d end up in the car business.
“My family was in real estate,” he said.
His family built The Summit sports arena and developed the surrounding Greenway Plaza, a mixed-use area in Houston. His late father, Kenneth Schnitzer, used to own the Houston Rockets basketball team.
Schnitzer attributes his success in the car business to his real estate background.
He would like to buy more dealerships in Southern California but first wants to get a grasp of the local market, Schnitzer said.
Dealers Donate
Irvine Auto Center’s 14 dealers recently donated a hefty $10,000 each to the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs and Heroes & Healthy Families of Camp Pendleton. The money will help injured military and law enforcement workers and their families.
Organic Baby Food
Svetla Kibota and her husband, Robin, are set to open Pomme Bebe, an organic baby food store, in Newport Beach at the end of this month. The store will have a commercial kitchen that will cook and prepare and package baby food.
The food comes in blends such as mushroom and butternut squash, strawberry banana and kiwi apricot pear. The 4-ounce packages will sell for $3 to $4.50. The food will be seasonal to take advantage of the freshest foods, she said.
Pomme Bebe means apple baby in French, Kibota said. She got the idea for her store from growing up in Bulgaria.
“We grew everything,” she said.
Stores didn’t sell jars of baby food in Bulgaria then, she said. Now, as the mother of a 14-month-old baby, she steams and purees all of her baby’s food.
Pomme Bebe will be on Westcliff Drive in Newport Beach nearby K & #233;an Coffee. It’s an ideal location because there are a lot of stay-at-home moms in that area who meet at K & #233;an Coffee, she said.
Segerstrom Honored
Henry Segerstrom seems to be on the award circuit lately.
On the heels of a proclamation celebrating South Coast Plaza, presented by Costa Mesa mayor Allan Monsoor, Segerstrom, the head of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, received the planning directors Visionary Leadership award during the annual Planning Directors Association of Orange County forum held at the Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel.
Segerstrom also made a few comments as the keynote speaker.
He noted that attracting tourists is one of the key objectives for South Coast Plaza and that in the future, cultural tourism will play an even bigger role in Costa Mesa.
South Coast Plaza, which opened in 1967, started with a phone call to Segerstrom in 1962 from May Co. and Sears, he said. They were interested in starting a major shopping center, he said.
Here are some things you may not know about Segerstrom. He served as chairman of board for the Orange County Water District and also served in World War II and suffered a serious combat wound that landed him in the hospital for about half of his four and a half years in the military.
