We are here for you. Helpful words during a pandemic, and what car dealerships have said to their customers – but they also come with the weight of figuring out how to make their facilities function – safely – sooner than other industries. There was no playbook. Baker Associates helped find a solution.
While dealerships were allowed to remain open as essential businesses, they needed to make adjustments to keep everyone safe. Our client needed to take steps to keep people safe and provide peace of mind to those that came to the facility.
They began by practicing the initial recommendations of the CDC and other agencies. They also worked with Baker Associates to see what could be done to accommodate health and safety regulations in both the short and the longer term, on a temporary or a permanent basis.
“Our client has consistently been a leader when it comes to the customer experience. Their response to the coronavirus is no different,” said Baker Associate CEO Kristy Dahlvang. “They wanted to be on the front end of the solution to what would truly work for their customers – and their staff – to keep everyone healthy and to keep everyone safe, while still conducting business.”
These were uncharted waters, so no such solutions existed. To ensure that customers could safely still have an in-store customer experience as quickly as possible, they asked Baker Associates to look at both temporary and permanent solutions to address social distancing in the service area of their facility.
Baker Associates provided two rounds of concepts, the first showing an overview of both temporary and permanent solutions. The second round expanded on two permanent solutions, as the client made a determination that buyer security and health considerations may linger or become permanent. The solution resolved the social distancing issue by creating new pathways while also maintaining the design integrity of the space.
Baker Associates is proud to have helped create these design solutions.
“At Baker Associates we pride ourselves on our ability to design for the customer. The pandemic has changed what that means in dealerships, at least in the short term. We needed to reimagine what a dealership looks like to accommodate social distancing while still functioning and maintain the look and feel of the dealership,” said Dahvang. “We’re proud to be able to play a role in keeping their essential business open while keeping customers and staff healthy and safe.”
Read more about the project here.