Van Isle Ford dealer principal Will Pulford has purchased the Dennis Jonsson GM dealership. Pulford officially took over last Friday.
Dennis Jonsson sold the Chevrolet-GMC dealership in October, capping nearly three decades of selling cars in the Alberni Valley.
Pulford bought the Ford dealership on lower Johnston Road in the spring of 2010. He always intended to buy another dealership, and has been looking seriously for the past year, he said.
“When the opportunity came up to purchase the store in Port Alberni it made sense. It kind of fit.”
Last February he announced his intention to build a larger dealership on Beaver Creek Road, on the site formerly occupied by the Alberni Athletic Hall.
Pulford said the GM and Ford dealerships will continue to operate independently; he will not move the GM dealership to the new site.
“The GM dealership is kind of new. It’s literally in the best location in town for a car dealership,” he said, adding that the location was one of the things that attracted him to the sale.
Pulford is happy he is able to keep his new purchase within the community. “My wife and I love it here and we thought what better way to show Port Alberni that we love it here...than to support the community by investing in another business?”
Pulford has hired two news sales managers, one for each dealership. Brett Brenneman started at Van Isle Ford on Nov. 1, while Shawn Lawson is the new sales manager at Pacific Chevrolet Buick GMC Ltd.
Meanwhile, construction on the new 15,000-square-foot Ford millennium concept facility on Beaver Creek Road will start soon.
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