2:30 pm, October 15, 2021
Used car retailer CarShop is poised to open its fourth store in Yorkshire – bringing a jobs boost with it.
CarShop Express Halifax, based in Shelf, will be welcoming the public from Monday, November 1.
Fifteen positions have been created, comprising the head of business and a business operations manager, a customer service consultant, eight Express specialists, two service technicians, an accounts administrator plus a vehicle technician.
Covering 14,520 sq ft, it’ll join established sites in Wakefield, Doncaster and Sheffield, and will be CarShop’s 15th UK store, following two other Express openings for the Sytner Group-owned retailer.
CarShop Express Leicester launched at the start of May and CarShop Express Leighton Buzzard followed suit in August.
The Halifax store will offer digital browsing of CarShop’s thousands of cars across the UK with a streamlined in-store experience but will also have 70 cars on site – a first for the company.
They will be selected according to which are the most popular models in the region.
CarShop chief executive Nigel Hurley said: ‘CarShop Express Halifax combines the best of our Express store concept with the best of our main store offering to create a really enhanced proposition for car buyers across West Yorkshire.
‘As with our two other Express stores, customers can browse our thousands of makes and models online before getting a car moved to the store for a test drive or collection, completely for free.
‘However, now they can also pop into CarShop Express Halifax to browse the store’s range of 70 cars on site too – all of which have been hand-picked for the local area.’
Hurley also highlighted the popularity of the Express specialists.
‘Instead of working across one area of the store such as sales consultant or handover adviser, they help a customer from the start to the end of their buying journey, making for a really personalised and friendly experience.’
Paul Harnett, the former head of business at CarShop Manchester, who has worked for CarShop since 2016, will be head of business at the Halifax store.
‘It’s exciting to be involved in the opening and running of CarShop Express Halifax – the first store of its kind in the UK through combining both the Express experience with the main store offering.
‘I’m really looking forward to taking on a new challenge and using my experience to ensure the store is as successful as it can be,’ he said.
It will support CarShop Wakefield, which is some nine miles away, and Hurley said: ‘The location and timing for this move is perfect.
‘CarShop Wakefield has been the area’s go-to used car destination for over two decades and now, with the opening of CarShop Express Halifax, comes a new, fresh offering for a region that has served us so well.’
The CGI images show what the CarShop Express Halifax store will look like
