A FAMILY-owned Nissan dealership can lay claim to being the North East’s most unlikely entertainment venue after a string of events held in its spacious showroom enjoyed massive success.
Blackshaws Nissan in Alnwick drew almost 1,000 people through the doors of its Lionheart Enterprise Park premises in the last 12 months with a trio of unique events that raised thousands of pounds for charity.
And not one of the events involved a car!
Most recently a Charity Winter Fayre featuring festive stalls run by local businesses and a carol concert attracted almost 400 paying guests, with the proceeds – more than £1,800 – being donated to HospiceCare North Northumberland.
Before that a similar number gathered for a fabulous ladies’ night featuring beauty treatments, fashion shows and flower arranging demonstrations, which raised £2,374 for Breast Cancer Care.
Meanwhile, a lecture by a renowned criminologist and author Professor David Wilson attracted an audience of around 180 and raised a further £1,409 for the hospice.
Marketing Manager, Sue Blackshaw, said: ‘We were absolutely thrilled with the success of the events we held and are already thinking of new ideas for 2013.
‘If you think about it, when our showroom is cleared of cars there aren’t many venues around here that can accommodate as many people as we can. We also have plenty of parking.
Sue added: ‘Most events held in car dealerships are in someway centred around a particular model and are geared towards sales.
‘But it’s very hard to attract someone to attend an event which is totally sales orientated so we decided to go down a different road.
‘At our last event, for example, we know that we attracted at least 100 people who had never visited our dealership before and who perhaps never knew we were here.
‘Now they not only know where to find us, but we’ve also had the opportunity to introduce ourselves in a relaxed, friendly way and to demonstrate our strongly felt commitment to the local community. This can only have a positive long term effect for our business.
‘The day after the ladies’ night, for example, I was stopped three times by different women I’d never met before who asked how much money we raised and thanked me for such an enjoyable night.’
- This story was prepared by the Nissan Dealer PR Service. Call the Nissan Dealer PR team on 0845 0550504 if you have a story you’d like your local papers and radio stations to know about!