Camping World Opens Jayco Exclusive Store in Okla. City

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. – Camping World Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CWH), the World’s Largest Recreation Dealer, today announced the opening of another manufacturer exclusive location, Jayco Oklahoma City.

Camping World Chairman and CEO Marcus Lemonis commented, “It’s our goal to increase our store count by 50% over the next five years, through a combination of acquisitions and new store openings. We’re proud to open Oklahoma City’s first Jayco exclusive dealership.”

Matthew Wagner

Matt Wagner, COO of Camping World continued, “Located near our existing Camping World store, this opening represents our opportunity to provide customers a unique buying experience focused on one of the leading RV brands in America and expand our used RV and service offerings in the market.”

The Jayco Oklahoma City dealership located at 13241 Broadway Ext, and offers a full selection of new RVs from Jayco in addition to used RVs, service, and the entire portfolio of Good Sam products and services.

Marcus Lemonis

In an interview with RVBusiness for a report published June 14, Lemonis expounded on Camping World’s manufacturer-exclusive strategy.

“Under this format, select individual dealerships will be dedicated exclusively to selling, servicing and showcasing that brand’s latest innovation and product offering, with a tailored, brand-specific customer experience and specialized staff training,” Lemonis told RVBusiness regarding a plan that started with a Jayco Morgan Hill facility in California.

“We are in discussions right now with every major manufacturer to see if they have an appetite or they have ideas around this and we are getting positive feedback,” added Lemonis. “I would expect us to have 11 manufacturer-specific stores open by the early fall time frame.”

Given the general prospects for CWH’s new single-brand initiative, which comes on the heels of a recent high-profile series of dealership acquisitions, Lemonis agreed to again address publicly held CWH’s plans on the record with RVBusiness:

RVB: So, Marcus, what’s behind this whole single-brand initiative?

Lemonis: “Well, there’s three primary reasons why we really believe that this is a good additional business strategy for our company. The first is that we have never felt more optimistic about the future of the RV business. While we’re in this lull of RV shipments, and while RV retail registrations are temporarily suppressed, we know that the number of people who are RVing in the country is going nowhere but up. That’s the first leg on the stool.

“The second leg on the stool is really driven by two things. One is we have an absolute appetite to grow our business. But we also think it’s important – with all the investments that manufacturers have made in recent years around product and parts innovation and service support and ways to communicate with consumers and really trying to evolve into a modern-day company – that the current dealer body structure do its best to help manufacturers present their differentiating offerings to consumers, putting them on their own platform and allowing everybody to view their product lineups and the infrastructure that supports it. The way it’s communicated is a unique opportunity for manufacturers to play a bigger role directly with the consumer. That’s the second one.

“The third thing is really probably more near and dear to my heart, and it’s probably more of what people outside of the RV industry would expect from me. But as I look back at my 20 years, and I’m not going to be in this industry forever, the one thing that I’ve enjoyed and been disappointed by in the same breath is our ability, our company’s ability to help multi-generational families monetize their life’s work.

“Up until now, dealer acquisitions had to look a certain way. Was it big enough? Did they have a big enough showroom? Was it in the right market? Do they have the right brand?

RVB: You’re talking about dealers who are interested in selling their businesses, right?

Lemonis: Yes, there’s these have and have nots in a dealer’s ability – a family that has worked for 30 years – to monetize and create generational wealth for their family. Then, this new idea, this new line that we have launched already allows us to look at acquisitions very differently and allows us to look at longstanding 10-, 15-, 20-, 30-plus year dealers who may not have big facilities and indoor showrooms that tend to attract buyers.

“Whether they’re in big markets or small markets, it allows us to hopefully, over a series of years, provide an exit strategy for those dealers who historically have been left out of that acquisition discussion because they didn’t meet a certain mark or check a certain box.

“When I put all three of those legs on the stool together, we end up with a brand-new line of business that is complementary to our traditional business.

“We also want to help work with the manufacturers to set a very high-bar standard, meaning that when you go into these facilities, much like you would an automotive dealership, that it surely meets the professional standards of the RV manufacturers.

RVB: What then does this do for Camping World in the big picture inasmuch as you’re already adding stores here at an unprecedented clip. Where does this take you next?

Lemonis: “We made a commitment to the market that we were going to grow our store base by 50%. We believe that in order to do that profitably and prudently, we need to acquire and/or open stores of all shapes and sizes in lots of different markets.

“I think 10 years ago, we would’ve believed that the RV market was only good in a handful of top markets. But as we continue to open up stores in the more remote areas of New Hampshire and Minnesota, we realized that the RV industry can really be everywhere, although the size of that facility, the fixed costs associated with that facility, need to flex up and down based on the size of the market. This to me provides a very long runway for acquisitions and store openings that a Camping World store may not have traditionally been able to fill up as easily.”

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/camping-world-opens-jayco-exclusive-store-in-okla-city/