VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Your feelings of behaviors at Show & Shine

This has got me torn. We have a retail store AND a classic vehicle. You'd think there would be no conflict as the two are pretty much unrelated. Well, here we go...

Every nice Friday afternoon evening between the spring and fall a group of classic car folk gather in the parking lot outside one of our stores. Actually the central point is a fast food place adjacent to our property. No problem - love having them flow onto our ground. The cars have been gathering at this location for a number of years and so many of the cars are unbelievably beautiful Everything form bone stock to hot rods. The property we bought about three years ago was an asphalt parking lot and offered a wide open venue for the group. They did have a problem with another retailer adjacent to our property and the police had been called over the years to settle things. The other retailer was not very understanding of the Show abnd Shine at all and deliberately made it difficult for the group.

We had been informed of the group by this other retailer but decided we would be much more welcoming and allow the use of our property for the weekly gathering. It has gone alright since we opened February 2005. However, the last couple of weeks has been a little disturbing. The weather has been much warmer and sunnier than usual so tempers have been flaring a bit.

The first couple of cars to arrive this past Friday parked smack in front of our entrance. It is one of the only shaded areas on the lot, but there are a few others. Our manager asked them to move to another part of the lot so that our customers would be able to park conveniently. She was met with a barrage of insults and attitude, from the guys and the gals. "We're paying customers, we can park wherever we #@$%$# well please." They really aren't customers but we have allowed the use of our restrooms and otherwise welcomed them. She also approached a couple of others when they parked in an area we would prefer them not use. Same result. Now, keep in mind that this manager is also a car gal. She and her husband race Figure 8 at the local track and she is a sweetheart. Not confrontational at all. She truly appreciates the cars in the lot.

The group would simply not even listen to our requests and treated our employees like dirt. My first reaction was to shut the whole thing down and close off our lot on Friday afternoons/evenings. Heck we can't use it now anyhow so no additional loss for us.

Maybe the better idea would be to set up a section (majority) of the lot reserved for classic cars for Fridays. This would give them our explicit approval of using the lot and hopefully keep them in that area. What we're really talking about is 10 spaces for our customers and the other 40 for the show and shine group. If that doesn't work, we'll have to respond to them the way they responded to our employees and shut 'em out. The lot is our private property.

By the way, the store is part of a non-profit network that returns all of it's proceeds to help the needy in this area. This probably doesn't matter but it is a fact.

Let me know how you might handle this or suggestions you may have to keep the car guys happy and not inconvenience our customers.

If the car group has an identifiable leader, I would have a chat with him about your concerns. If he is receptive, go with a plan, if he is NOT receptive, I would post the area and have the police number on a piece of paper by the phone.

Unfortunately, it isn't a "club" per se. Just a loose group that gets together here. We actually tried to identify a "leader" and did have a converstion with him, but he wasn't interested in communicating our wishes to the rest of the group.

911 will be an option.

Too bad, however I think you have your finger on the solution.

One bad apple spoils the bushel. Now you have to throw out the entire peck.

That is what we see anywhere we try to havwe any non-complicated no rules group of fun lovers. There is something wrong with the picture where the "Bad Guys' rights are upheld and the "Good Guys" haqve to yield their rights for so called SECURITY ala Governmental intrusion.

With it not being a club that has rules and leaders you are fighting a losing battle, IMHO.

Your lot should be used only as you want it used, period. If something goes wrong during one of these 'meeting' and you have allowed them to use the property you might wind up holding the bag and getting sued for damages or worse.

You should get local police involved and have a 'meeting' of the minds.

IMHO

Maybe have your manager bring the racer on a Friday night. That may help them identify with you. Park it in the area you want them to stay in. Maybe they will get the picture.

Liability is a definite issue. I would suggest consulting with the local police. Maybe they could cruise the lot a couple of time during the evening. Since it is private property they have limited jurisdiction. Second you might get a few traffic cones and post signs in them stating the spaces are reserved for customers. If that does not work then closing the lot might be the best solution.

Does your store have any shopping carts? A few loose carts rolling around the lot is a sure way to inspire them to find a new home. Maybe a converstion with the fast food owner could also offer some inspiration. My third approach would be to find 30 or so other cars and take up every other space so they can't park. Or place a sign customers only violators will be towed at there own risk, and park a tow truck in your lot. My personal favorite would be to see if a local "Billy Jack" (remember those movies? one of the best movie lines ever ....." I am going to take my right foot and place it on the side of your head and there is nothing you can do about it")is looking for a side job.
John

Another option that wasn't mentioned... the fast food place near you. You might talk to their manager and let 'em know that the spill-over parking is causing a problem for your legitimate customers. See how the manager responds... The punch line is that if you get the crowd annoyed enough, then they'll leave the location, find a new one, and the fast food resturant has the most to lose!!

I'd think that his desire to keep the crowd would cause him enough concern to try to get a "good neighbor" parking policy in effect for adjacent parking areas. And then having two store of a like-mind can begin to make changes.

Just my .02 worth.

tow them! the lot belongs to you! its the same as if i came into your house and made a sandwich without even knowing you. ok, that was a bad comparison but you get the idea. my vw club has an understanding with the levitz furniture store next to in-n-out burger. we understand that we have a designated parking area and we do not disrespect that. they are nice, we are nice, evryone is happy.

It is always a pleasure to hear the feedback here. Lots of good thoughts. Thanks.

The renegade shopping cart is what nightmares are made of in the world of classic cars. That's great.

I've known the owner of the fast food place for nearly 20 years and have talked with him about this, but I am definitely going to step up the pace now. I think he will see the benefit.

The manager knows a towing company owner and he has told her he would be happy to park a couple of his rigs in our lot. With signs as John noted may get the message across.

We are definitely at the end of the road for being understanding. Our next moves will let them know we are serious. We've gotten prices on temp fences which would really get their goat.

All of this over a few of our own parking spots. Who would have guessed?

I would just have someone stand at the entrance to the lot with an apron on, like a parking lot attendant...make them pay a "cover charge" to use your lot, after they pay (assuming they do), direct them to their designated parking spot... if they argue, just tell them that if their club is causing a negative effect on the customer satisfaction and cash flow of the business, you have no choice but to charge them for use of the space to make up for the loss. They'll either be fine with it, be open to hearing your concerns, or leave... ...just my opinion...

You might contact a local Boy Scout Troop or a Girl Scout Troop and set it up for them to have Scouts there to collect a modest parking fee, park the cars in an orderly fashion, and let the Scouts have the money for their Troop activities. Do some good and help out the Scout Troop

Invite a real car club to the lot for Friday nite.

Try to get intouch with the manager of the Mickey D's in Scottsdale,Az. on Pima Rd. They have a cruise nite every Sat. 4:00 P.M. well over 300 cars.Ask how they control it. I have been there many times and all they do is rope off the places they want cars to park,with small cones and rope.

Our saturday night car show at the fred meyer store In Burien Washington has not ever had a problem. The people who control the cars coming Into the parking area puts two orange cones about twenty feet apart and two of the people string a rope across the opening and when ever a show car shows up they tell the person where to park and then lets them drive In. If you have a certain opening to your lot, This would be a good way to make changes as to how you now do It. Good Luck.

All of these ideas are great but I think some of you are forgeting that they already told a female manager to that they can park where the @#$% they want. So why would anyone want to help them, and make them feel welcome? What are the Boy Scouts going to do? What are they going to tell the Girl Scouts? I am just a guy from The Bronx, you guys are way too nice, and I guess that is good
John

john: we'll forgive your being from the Bronx. i know yer a good guy.i agree with your philosophy- i'd tell the obnoxious jerks to hit the bricks if they gave an employee a raft of crap.mike

Designate where the show cars can park and where your customers can park. Use the cone and rope deal and charge admission.

Use the admission to hire off-duty policemen to man the parking/crowd control and enforcement.

Do you have more than one driveway into lot? Designate a customers only entrance to facilitate parking control.

There has been a similar parking lot car show in my area for years now and it has moved about several times for a variety of reasons. It seems all these issues have come up. Most of the suggestions I see on this post sound good and have been used here. There is one, however, that the experience here tells me one should only use as a last resort--tow trucks. This came up here several years ago. As we all know, these cars are like our children. Not just anybody can touch them. You may find, as was the case here, a severe shortage of tow truck drivers--rough lot some may be--who are willing to hook up to a classic car. What the car owners did here was buy a soda or coffee at the fast food joint when they first arrived, then used the receipt as proof they "belonged" there. That eliminated even the most die-hard tow truck driver. Finding a way to "assign" parking spaces to different categories is also good. This way, when you get an undesirable group, you simply limit it to about 2 spaces and soon they get the hint.

Excellent choice,

Another town had a similar problem with young kids & their cars. They solved it by blasting Barry Manilow music from very large speakers - kids took off immediately !! Maybe you can coime up with something creative like that.
-Bob

Bowtie Bob
Several town councils here in Aus are doing the same with reasonable success. The hoons are going elsewhere.
Tony

What`s a Hoon???? :confused: