‘Crews’-ing Forward

From his bare office save a desk and chair, Robert Crews flipped open his cell phone every few minutes to take messages Wednesday morning.

He more than once had to speak above the din of a receptionist on an intercom notifying a staffer, “you have a call on line 1.” A couple of times, an employee poked his head in to ask a question.

Such fits and starts are typical these days for the dealership chief as he helps to launch Crews Chevrolet in North Charleston. “We’ve opened enough up (for) a storefront,” Crews says.

Aided by more visible entry points, customers can peruse four late-model Chevys in the showroom including a yellow Camaro SS with the bowtie logo – new in gold this year.

Just outside, consumers can inspect a half-dozen more models lined up in front. The 22-bay service department started up this month, and the paint and body shop is scheduled to open in two weeks.

Crews Chevrolet’s boss is hardly new to the car business, to the Charleston area, or even to the general location on Rivers Avenue. Crews also runs Subaru of Charleston next door and headed Saturn of Charleston for many years before General Motors scrapped the brand in fall 2009.

What’s new to Crews is being involved with the specific property at 8199 Rivers Avenue, which has been home to various Chevy stores over the years. Also, it’s the first time the dealer has included his name in the title.

“I labored hard over putting my name on it,” he said. “This is a 30 year dream come true.”

The Crews name indicates the dealership is locally operated, he said. “Our team has been in North Charleston since 1994. We went through a great run with Saturn,” Crews said.

Taking a page from Saturn’s history, “We are trying to make it more customer-friendly,” he said. “A lot of Saturn’s philosophy, such as no haggle pricing, is give the customer what they want,” he said.

Crews will remain in charge of Subaru as well as Chevrolet. He and sister Laura Martin own the new venture, which gained the Chevrolet franchise this spring after Marathon Automotive relocated to Summerville.

“Everyone at Marathon was offered a position. We kept 15 people,” the rest moving on to Summerville or elsewhere, he said. Crews Chevrolet shifted some employees from the Subaru-Saturn operation and has about 45 workers now. The owner expects to hire more people to bring employment to 65. The Subaru store has about 35 employees.

Crews said he has made a few cosmetic changes at the Chevrolet outlet such as adding two more doors to the main 29,000 square foot building. But most of the changes are expected in the next month or so. They include:

• Bringing in cars and trucks so that the lot will have 200 new Chevrolets and 120 used vehicles at any one time. Crews is excited about a manufacturer with 15 brands including the Equinox crossover, Tahoe, Malibu, a refurbished Silverado full-sized truck and the new Cruze and electric Volt arriving this year or early 2011. “We’ve got a great selection coming,” he said.

• Working with General Motors' architects on a new Chevrolet look, already in place with the spacious showroom, that would include new signage and perhaps a covered car patio in front of the main building. Crews hopes to hold a grand opening by October.

• Taking full advantage of the 17 acres of property between Subaru and Chevrolet, including more than 12 acres and 60,000-square-feet under roof at the Chevy operation.

Mark Milroth will be general sales manager at Crews Chevrolet and H.R. Hicks holds that title at Subaru of Charleston. Both managers are long-time associates of Crews at Saturn of Charleston.

“I am very excited about the opportunity at Crews Chevrolet,” Milroth said. The manager said he wants to incorporate Saturn’s customer service appeal, which is “the very fabric of the company,” into the Chevrolet culture.

The company has transferred the former Saturn phone number, (843) 820-7800 to Crews Chevrolet, while Subaru of Charleston can be reached at (843) 820-4200.

“I think our story is we know the area, we’ve been here 15 years,” Crews said. “Now we are expecting the next chapter, with Chevrolet’s growth.”

Reach Jim Parker at 937-5542 or jparker@postandcourier.com