Gimli’s Shoreside GM may have slipped quietly into the driver’s seat last year without a lot of fanfare, but the long-standing General Motors dealership formerly known as Giesbrecht & Sons continues to stop on a dime for its customers.
Marshall and Bruce Giesbrecht sold the dealership last year to Mike Shrimpton, an Interlaker with plenty of experience in the auto sales industry, but they continue to work there.
The dealership was renamed Shoreside GM to reflect its presence in the Lake Winnipeg community.
What made the Giesbrechts so successful over their 47-year run was a commitment to exceptional service that not only met customers’ expectations, but also exceeded them. They and Mike are carrying that ethos forward under the Shoreside banner. A customer will drive off the lot knowing he or she can have any potential problems resolved without fuss.
“One of my dad’s [John Sr.] sayings was, ‘Sales and service, service, service,’” said Marshall Giesbrecht.
Originally from Winnipeg, John Sr. and Rose Giesbrecht (Bruce and Marshall’s dad and mom) bought a car dealership on Gimli’s Centre Street in 1976, naming it Gimli Motors (1976) Ltd. To accommodate the growth of Gimli Motors and the demand for GM products, the family built a new dealership in 1988 just west of town on PR 231. They renamed it Giesbrecht & Sons. Over the years the family built a strong customer base that currently stretches from Kenora, Ont., to Brandon and from Winnipeg to Ashern.
Shoreside sells three General Motors brands: Chevrolet, Buick and GMC. It also sells pre-owned vehicles and has a certified service centre.
Marshall said one of the best things about running the dealership were the customers.
“One of the highlights for me when we owned the dealership was the number of people and families we met and dealt with over the years,” he said. “We’ve created a family atmosphere here and get to know people by their first names. Everybody knows us by our first names, too.”
Bruce Giesbrecht said another highlight from their time at the dealership’s helm was earning a prestigious award. In 1997, their dad, John Sr., was awarded through Maclean’s magazine the Manitoba Dealer of Excellence Award by General Motors.
Owning the dealership was not always a smooth ride, however, as they weathered some challenges along the way, including coming to Gimli as strangers in the 1970s and having to build connections from the ground up, as well as raising enough capital to erect the dealership and service centre west of town.
Perhaps the most nerve-wracking time occurred in 2009 during the Great Recession (late 2007 to mid 2009) when General Motors culled about 296 of its 705 dealerships across Canada as it grappled with flagging auto sales. Several thousand people lost their jobs. The Giesbrechts remember anxiously waiting to find out whether their dealership would be on the chopping block.
“It was very tense for all GM dealerships and ours as well. By the time the smoke had cleared, we were still standing. There were almost 300 dealers that lost their franchises on that one afternoon – it was a Wednesday afternoon. There were lots of casualties,” said Bruce. “Even though we were a smaller dealership, GM felt we were doing a good job and were economically viable.”
After a good long run, Marshall said he and his brother decided to sell the business in order to take a “little bit of time off.” With their children having entered various professional careers, the brothers looked around for an external buyer.
It was the Giesbrechts’ reputation for customer service that got Mike Shrimpton’s attention.
“As an outsider looking in, I could see they had a very happy customer base,” said Mike, who’s from the St. Andrews-Selkirk area. “People enjoy dealing here. They feel the level of service is always top-notch.”
Mike has no plans to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, because the business is running as smoothly as a Chevy Silverado and continues to be a mainstay in the Interlake. And no one at the dealership has lost their job.
Although some people might say the dealership model is no longer needed in this day and age when considering Tesla founder Elon Musk’s direct-to-consumer sales model, Mike says otherwise.
Dealerships deliver valuable services to customers that include information about brand reputation and other features of the vehicles, as well as a network of service centres that cover warranties and provide repairs and tune-ups.
“The advantage we have is a really, really strong dealer network that allows us to provide service to our customers. Local customers or people who are travelling across North America can find a GM dealership that’s probably not very far from them,” said Mike. “Our dealer network is definitely a strength in terms of obtaining service. Strong service support sells the next vehicle.”
Supply-chain disruptions that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic affected nearly every industry, including the automotive industry, and the global economy is still recovering. Despite higher interest rates and price hikes at the supermarket, there’s a demand for vehicles that’s outstripping supply, said Mike. Shoreside currently has a bit more open space than vehicles because the majority of their inventory is hitting the open road as soon as it arrives. The dealership has seen a 229 per cent rate of sale increase this year already.
As busy as they’ve been, Shoreside is planning a day-long grand opening celebration on Saturday, July 22. It will include a car show courtesy of the local Gimli Car Club (and perhaps other clubs), a live band and broadcasts from CJ107 and QX104.
Shoreside GM prides itself on providing the best automotive services. The dealership is located on PR 231 between highways 8 and 9. It’s open (sales) from Monday to Saturday, with the service and parts departments open Monday to Friday.
The sales department can be reached at (204) 642-5132, the service department at (204) 819-0178, and the parts department at (204) 808-1225. For those outside the area, call toll-free 1-888-885-3871.
