Dealer finds downtown store suited to show his luxury cars

From high-end clothes to cars, the former Holt Renfrew downtown store is being converted to a luxury auto showroom.
Tony Dilawri is using 5,000 square feet of space in the CORE shopping centre at 8th Avenue and 3rd Street S.W. for a streetfront showcase of his most expensive vehicles.
The space, vacant for about 18 months since Holt Renfrew relocated, will become Dilawri Detour In The Core. The showroom and retail accessories store will open Monday.
“We thought, what a great idea to sit there and showcase some of our cars and then we looked at all the accessories we have and thought it would be a great retail outlet as well,” said Dilawri.
“Whether it’s luggage, or clothing, or lifestyle, bikes, all the rest of it. We’ll have that all loaded up in the downtown location.”
There 14 showroom vehicles include Bentley, Aston Martin, Fisker, Mini and BMW brands.
“A lot of our customers are all in this five-block square,” said Dilawri, of the corporate Calgary office nearby the showroom.
The luxury auto industry’s momentum will be reflected at an upcoming Vancouver show expected to attract Calgary buyers.
“There’s a big group of people in Canada that collect cars like they would collect stamps and wine. They increase in value substantially,” said Craig Stowe, of the Luxury Supercar & Concours d’Elegance event in Vancouver Sept. 7-9.
“Twenty five per cent of the people that come to this event are either from Calgary, Red Deer or Edmonton.”
Nigel Matthews, chairman of Concours, said 80 older vehicles in various categories will be judged at this year’s show, which will focus on almost 100 years of Aston Martin and 50 years of James Bond movies.
“The exotic car market has grown and become a lot stronger,” said Matthews. “You have exotic dealerships now that you did not use to have. The Bentley dealership used to be just Vancouver and Alberta customers had to come to B.C.,” he said.
“This whole car hobby is driven by the baby boomer demographic. So you’ve got empty nesters with money to spend and they’re having fun with a modern exotic or buying what they wanted to have when they were younger.”