18 • May 2024 • Powersports Business www . PowersportsBusiness . com

Broward Motorsports expanded to its sixth location on the Southeastern Coast of Florida on August 1 , 2023 . “ This store brings a robust culture with it ,” says Anthony Bruno , general manager of the dealership . “ We ’ re in the city of Hialeah within Miami , and it truly embraces the Cuban culture .”

He says the atmosphere within the dealership is energetic , music is always playing , the coffee pot is always on and there is even a “ gang of chickens ” outside of the store . “[ They are ] wild chickens ,” he laughs . “ There ’ s probably 15 or 20 of them out there . There ’ s one we call Rocky ; he hangs out at our front door . It ’ s funny , the majority of the people that come in here are so used to it .”

The dealership , formerly Palmetto Motorsports , has become a place for customers to hang out . “ It ’ s such a different environment here … We have customers that have been coming here forever and Palmetto Motorsports was opened in ’ 78 and it was held by the same owner . It was a father-son ordeal / family ordeal and the father ended up retiring and leaving it to Todd [ Sandoval ], the previous owner , and a lot of the staff here have been here for a very long time .”

The dealership employs about 31 employees , many of whom have worked long-term either at Broward Motorsports or at the former dealership . “ We had our first employee to truly retire , and he came from here ,” Bruno says about Eddie Martinez , who retired in his mid−70s .

“ He loved it . He still comes by all the time ,” Bruno says . He shares that Martinez is still creating deals within the powersports industry in his retirement . “ He ’ s an asset ,” Bruno says . “ We have a lot of those employees here . We have Billy , he ’ s our parts manager and he has been in the industry since the early 80s . We have Mario , he ’ s a parts guy and he ’ s been here forever . What ’ s cool about this store is that the majority of the employees that are here are ones that were working for Palmetto and have been in the industry for a very long time .”

Broward Motorsports opened its sixth location in August 2023 .

A sales manager and a finance manager have been hired under Broward Motorsports ’ ownership and the building has been painted to modernize the business . “ We came in here bats swinging and ready to get this place cranking ,” Bruno says .

The dealership hosted a grand opening in October . “ It was a huge event and a tremendous success . We didn ’ t have enough staff here to deal with it ,” he says . “ It was a lot of fun . We had a D . J ., we had food trucks , we had a champagne truck . It was definitely

a party . And we had a massive turnout . We had probably 500 or 600 people show up .”

BUSINESS AS BROWARD While most Broward Motorsports locations cater largely to the off-road and marine markets , the Miami location mostly sells motorcycles . The dealership originally sold KTM , Husqvarna , Kawasaki and Suzuki , and Bruno says more franchises will be added as they become available . Most recently , Kodiak golf carts and Scarab jet boats have

The Broward team named one of the chickens that hangs out just outside of the store Rocky .

Anthony Bruno has worked at Broward Motorsports since he was 16 and is now the general manager of the dealer group ’ s Miami location . Photos courtesy of Broward .

been added to the dealership . He says onroad products are popular because the city is dense , and ATVs and side-by-sides are sold less because there are few places to ride in the area .

“ We had a scooter brand when we first came in , but they weren ’ t at a good price point ,” Bruno says . “ My goal this year is to find another scooter brand … We take a lot of pride in what we do here and what we sell , and our service team takes significant pride in the vehicles . I don ’ t want to challenge them with a no-name scooter that has the potential to cause a lot of problems for us … we don ’ t want to tarnish the reputation here .”

Bruno says the original dealership had a great team of employees , but outdated processes . Broward uses modern apps and data and a CRM tool so all customers are reached online or in the store .

He says the parts department was run well , but the service department didn ’ t really exist . “ We had to hire more technicians and place a manager in the department , hire advisors , enforce processes and policies .” Employees were taught how to engage with customers and to prioritize the customer ’ s best interest , then the sales department during the sales process . He says Broward Motorsports operates similarly to an automotive dealership .

Bruno ’ s outlook for this year is optimistic and he says he wants to make an impact within Hialeah . He is focused on promoting the dealership through social media and