Sydney’s Northern Beaches is now home to Australia’s largest showroom for Jet Skis and personal watercraft.
Beaches Sea-Doo and Can-Am had been operating for about three years out of a small showroom with limited off-street access in Balgowlah near the beachside suburb of Manly, after taking over the business from the previous owner.
However, a sharp rise in sales due to the increase in Australians holidaying at home in the wake of the coronavirus crisis and overseas travel restrictions, saw Beaches Sea-Doo and Can Am quickly outgrow its premises.
Owner Simon Kendrick, an industry veteran and former executive at Sea-Doo and Yamaha Marine head offices, moved into the new premises in Brookvale in September 2020.
The former Volvo new-car showroom became available mid-year as many Sydney car dealers consolidated and moved to smaller premises during the vehicle sales downturn caused by the pandemic.
“For the last few years we’ve been building the business and we just simply outgrew our original location,” said Mr Kendrick.
“We wanted to move to a mid-size location, but there just wasn’t anywhere good enough. The reality is our business model is the same as a new-car dealership and the ideal place to go was into an empty car dealership.”
Mr Kendrick said while the car showroom site was almost too big at first, the high-profile location and high volume of passing traffic on one of Sydney’s busiest thoroughfares – Pittwater Road – helped seal the deal.
“With Holden and other car dealers closing down or moving to smaller sites, we had the opportunity to come into this store which is the biggest showroom and the biggest site and the most prestigious site of any powersports shop in Australia,” said Mr Kendrick.
Beaches Sea-Doo and Can Am now has 20 service bays, and car parking spaces for up to 40 vehicles.
“At our old place, people used to have to drive around the block a few times before they could get a parking spot. With the new place you can drive straight in,” said Mr Kendrick.
While Beaches Sea-Doo primarily services the northern beaches region of Sydney, Mr Kendrick says his customer base extends to the southern and western fringes of Sydney.
“Customers come from all areas. Our reach has extended as far as the western and southern fringes of Sydney,” says Mr Kendrick.
Although Beaches Sea-Doo is jointly owned with the recently revived Cronulla Sea-Doo and Can Am in Sydney’s south, the two showrooms compete with each other.
“We are fiercely competitive against each other,” said Mr Kendrick. “People do cross-shop us all the time. It often comes down to stock availability, service and price.”
As with most Jet Ski and personal watercraft stores across Australia, operating hours are Monday to Friday with a half-day Saturday.
For the full list of every Jet Ski and personal watercraft dealer in Australia – for all three brands Sea-Doo, Yamaha and Kawasaki – click here.