Rocklin's toy stores

The first turn on the Rocklin Land Rover terrain course bends and twists to simulate true four-wheel drive action.Driving the course, Land Rover sales guide Pat Nance stops in the turn?s middle, leaving this luxury sport utility vehicle?s passengers suspended, locked sideways in their seat belts like Spiderman to a New York skyscraper.Just another day at the office for Nance. The Land Rover dealership, located on Granite Drive in Rocklin is more than just a car dealership ? it?s an attraction.?We?re a lot like Disneyland, just without the plastic hippos and toy guns,? Nance joked.A theme park on Granite Drive? Not quite. But for high-priced toys like SUVs, Harley Davidson motorcycles, speed boats, yachts, upscale furniture and pottery, leave the small change in the piggy bank and grab the checkbook. Granite Drive is the destination location for Placer County.?It?s the Pavilions of Rocklin,? said Land Rover centre manager Elizabeth Axelgard. ?It?s upscale, high-end sales.? According to Rocklin?s former economic development manager Cindy Schaer, the five-lanes connecting Sierra College Boulevard with Rocklin Road was designed for a different type of retail sales ? the Roseville Galleria mall.?That?s why Granite Drive is so wide,? she said. ?In the early 1990s the city was going to build the mall at the Sierra College Boulevard interchange and then bring in the regional ?big box? stores, all the fast food restaurants ? the whole deal.?The Town of Loomis foiled development of the Galleria when it filed a lawsuit in opposition, spurring the Galleria to bolt for Roseville where it could begin construction hassle free, Schaer said.The loss of the mall left Rocklin reeling, and soon after they hired Schaer as the city?s economic development manager.?They told me, ?do something with Granite Drive,? ? she said. ?We had to create a sales tax base there to generate money to support city operated functions like the police and fire departments, road maintenance etc. I told the city not to try for the big box stores. Those businesses were going to locate near the Galleria, and it was a waste of time.?The result is the Granite Drive seen today ? a high ticket destination with high ticket retail sales from the likes of Pottery World, Dan Gamel RV, Harley-Davidson, Land Rover, Mercedes Benz Service Center, Antique Plaza, Delta Boats, Cope and McPheters Marine ? and with Niello Porsche, Lasher Kia and Cobalt Boats on the way.The bait Granite Drive dangles to this big business market??I-80 frontage,? Schaer said.The businesses say being a destination, rather than a stop on the shopping trail provides low-pressure sales to their big-spending clientele. Customers tend to do their research, and are prepared to look seriously at the products available. Signs on the highway don?t hurt, either.?We consider ourselves a boutique auto dealer,? Axelgard said. ?Our customer base is the adventurous crowd driving I-80 from Sacramento into the Sierra. Right now, we?re the only auto dealer so we don?t get the traffic we would at an auto mall or Fulton Avenue in Sacramento. But we can do more. Customers picnic out back and drive the course. And it?s less pressure, our sales guides wear shorts ? it?s like a safari.?Lenon Guidera, general manager of Harley-Davidson ? the second big retail store to Camping World to locate on Granite Drive -- said his store thrives on the reputation of its motorcycles.?Our customers at this store are mainly from Rocklin, Roseville and Granite Bay,? Guidera said. ?When they come here they?re pretty sure what they want. Our bikes range from $8,500 to $25,000, but our average customers spend between $20,000 and $30,000 because they get their bikes customized and set up with the leathers and chaps.?While they don?t complain, life on Granite Drive is not always a cake walk for businesses ? the stringent guidelines set by the City of Rocklin to obtain use permits, like lamp wattage in the parking lots and noise ordinances.For example, a car dealership would normally have a paging system to call for the attention of employees on the lot. At Land Rover, Axelgard said she has to run outside to find employees when she needs them because Rocklin won?t allow the lot to create noise with a speaker-based pager.But the business rolls in despite the minor setbacks. Just ask Dan Gamel RV, which opened in September of 2000. It?s expanded to operate from both sides of the street.?We actually have plans to open up a 150,000 square foot show room on Granite Drive, and we?re in the process for all the permits right now,? said Jake Zaremba, the RV center?s sales manager. ?We knew to begin with that our lot was too small ? but we needed to get our foot in the door right away. This is really the place to be with all the growth here in Rocklin, Lincoln and Del Webb communities.?Keith Reid can be reached at keithr@goldcountrymedia.com.