July 24, 2023

What makes an auto dealer add a dog park?

It starts with seeing yourself as more than an auto dealer.

“It was spur of the moment,” acknowledged Sarah Schulte, whose husband, Mike, is the second-generation of Schulte Subaru.

“Mike and I are always trying to think of creating ways to be more than a car dealership and include the community, so we were talking one night and said, ‘Let’s open a dog park.'”

One of Subaru’s five pillars involves loving pets, so it fit, she added.

Now, the south side of Sioux Falls and beyond is discovering the new park on the north side of the dealership. It it features three separate areas for dogs of various sizes, multiple shade shelters and even spots to plug in and play music.

There are disposable water bowls to prevent canine disease, waste bags and increasingly programming from pet-related nonprofits.

“We’re hearing from our neighbors that live in the residential community by Schulte Subaru that it’s packed at night,” she said. “We’re advertising as much as we can that it’s free and open to the community.”

Sioux Falls is a Subaru community, Mike Schulte said. While certain automakers outsell Subaru in other markets, in Sioux Falls they’re equaled or even surpassed by Subaru, he said. Sales have continued their upward trend, and Schulte said he’s hearing that inventory will be back to pre-pandemic levels by November.

“Subaru is very, very strong,” he said. “The region loves Subaru because of the safety and all-wheel-drive components.”

Soon, the Schultes will give the market one more reason to travel to the corner of 85th Street and Minnesota Avenue. They’re adding a more than 50,000-square-foot building that will be bigger than the existing dealership building and offer “a state-of-the-art collision center for all makes and models, a tire center for tires, alignments, balances, windshields,” Schulte said. “And on top of that, we’re paving another 2 acres of parking lot.”

The new building also will include a 1,500-square-foot community room designed to be used by groups for meetings or events.

“That’s going to be free for the community to use,” Schulte said. “Even for events like if a Girl Scout or Boy Scout troop wants to reserve it, they can.”

There’s room in the market for more body shops, he added.

“Right now in Sioux Falls, body shops are still fixing damage from last summer’s storms. Most are three to four months out, so if anything, Sioux Falls has a shortage of body shops, and we felt that was an area that’s really needed,” he said.

Initial work on the site has started, and building activity is expected to begin soon. The hope is to have the center ready to go by early next year. Some hiring has started already.

“We’re going to be crowded in our 8,000-square-foot current shop, but we’re starting to bring people in already, and we’re looking for people who aren’t going to start until the building is done,” Schulte said.