Cedartown Chevrolet owner John Welborn is hinging all bets that Highway 278 between Rockmart and Cedartown will be a prime spot for new business in the coming years. His dealership opened there on Sept. 30. of 2005.

“We hope this is going to be the growth area,” he said of Highway 278. The potential for growth and the fact that Cedartown Chevrolet’s old location, 910 S. Main St., was much smaller, were key reasons for the move.

“We just didn’t have enough room,” Welborn said.

He explained that the Highway 278 location sits on 11 acres, whereas the Main Street location only had three acres. Cedartown Chevrolet was purchased by Welborn in March of 2002.

There were other benefits to the move as well, as Welborn explained that many services and features were upgraded.

Because of new equipment, oil changes and tire rotations can now be completed in 12-17 minutes, as opposed to 30-minutes or more it took at the old location.

“That really speeds things up,” he said. “Everybody is always in a hurry.”

New equipment is also used that can look up the history of any car to better help diagnose potential problems. Mechanics can also get help from a new service that offers training via satellite.

“Before you had to send employees to Atlanta to a training facility,” Welborn explained. “I never dreamed it would be that high-tech but it is.”

The new location also features better lighting and security cameras.

At its previous location, Cedartown Chevrolet suffered an incident of vandalism that resulted in thousands of dollars worth of damage. An arrest has still not been made in that case and Welborn said that he is offering $1,000 to anyone who comes forward with information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

With all the improvements and upgrades aside, however, Welborn said that Cedartown Chevrolet will retain its hometown atmosphere.

“It’s as big as anything you would see in the bigger markets and yet we still retain the hometown atmosphere.”

The larger location also means more employees (there are currently 40 employees between the two dealerships), most of which are from Cedartown, he stated.

In addition to Cedartown Chevrolet, Welborn also owns Cedartown Ford, which moved its vehicles to the new location in December. A new building for the Ford Dealership will eventually be built next door to the Chevrolet building, he said.

A ribbon cutting was held for Cedartown Chevrolet in January and Welborn said that the official grand opening would take place in March.