It wasn’t too hard of a decision to come back home for the Grindstaff family.
Steve Grindstaff, family, friends and the staff of Grindstaff Ford were busy Thursday evening assisting the public during an after-hours celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony to highlight expansion at the dealership in Elizabethton – including the finalized Ford showroom.
With roots in the area, Steve said that he and his wife, Ashley, knew it was the perfect time to come back to the community.
“We decided to move back to Elizabethton and raise the twins here,” he explained. “We’re really excited about being back home. There’s nothing like ‘Betsy and the people here. One that makes me different compared to other dealership owners is that I’ll give out my personal cell phone number. If there is a problem, I want to make sure we can fix it. We want to establish those relationships.”
Representatives of the Elizabethton/Carter County and Washington County Chamber of Commerce, along with local and state government officials were on hand to see the expansion of the new Ford showroom and hear about the different improvements going on at the facility.
The renovated Ford showroom offers a luxury experience for customers with free soft drinks, spacious seating with a television and other measures to make the experience as comfortable as possible.
“When people come in, they can expect someone to greet them with a smile on their face and know that we’ll do our best to take care of them,” he said. “We have drinks available, all kinds of things … we want to bring back southern hospitality. When you come in, we want you to be taken care of because we want you as a customer.”
The owner indicated that now he’s back in Elizabethton and operating from the business, he’s hoping to see the cars move and wants to help impact the economy of Elizabethton and Carter County. Grindstaff indicated that before the nationwide economic depression that took place years ago, the business was the No. 1 dealership in the area for churning out cars.
“At one point, we were doing around 500 cars a month,” he said. “Now that we’re back and with all the different improvements, we’re ready to get back to that point.”
Grindstaff Ford also has an arrow in the quiver that is vastly different compared to other dealerships – being the only certified facility by Ford to work on aluminum body vehicles.
“We don’t even care if you bought the car from us or not, we want to be there for you,” he said. “We’re the only shop that’s certified through Ford to perform this work. We want to do our best for the customers.”
Customers that come in to have their vehicle worked on can expect a better visual experience by having the opportunity to view the work from the confines of the technician center waiting room. Along with the ability to watch a vehicle receive maintenance, television and other items will be available to those that wait.
Another perk, the owner added, is shifting from paper to paperless for all transitions within the store.
“It is cost effective and better for the customers,” he said. ““Customers will love it. It’s all done on a tablet. Information is saved and stored.
Keeping the business local is important, Grindstaff explained. With his son, Steven, now working from the Elizabethton office, the owner indicated he wants to stay local with any resources he uses. While various local businesses assisted with Thursday’s ceremony, Secure Test Alarms, operated out of Carter County, wired up the facility to allow the owner to keep an eye out of each different area to make sure customers are receiving top treatment from the staff.
“At one point, our store generated the most tax revenue out of any store here,” Grindstaff said. “It’s important for people to stay local, shop local and do what they can to support businesses here. The more you support businesses, the more you can thrive, keep property taxes down and that’s what we’re hoping we can do for Elizabethton.”
Another key component for the expansion was linking the Elizabethton together, the owner said. After approval from the city, the business was able to consolidate the area into one large location to keep employees from having to go out on the road and to no longer have a safety hazard for individuals walking or biking the Tweetsie Trail.
During Thursday’s event, Elizabethton Mayor Curt Alexander and David LeVeau with the Chamber of Commerce thanked the Grindstaff family for their work in the region and said they appreciated their efforts of helping the community. Ashley Grindstaff also thanked everyone for attending and said the family is excited about being back home and can’t wait to continue supporting the community.