Virginia is for Lovers…of British Cars

In addition to old cars, I collect old cameras. As folks who have visited will tell you, every nook and cranny of my house is stuffed with photographica. The cardinal rule of collecting states that when you run out of room, you buy a bigger house. Not all spouses are aware of this, but trust me, it’s a rule. Well, as things stand, Moss Motors’ house is full of parts and accessories, so it’s time to move to a bigger house.

When we located our East Coast warehouse in Dover, New Jersey 20 years ago, it was our third different home in six years, but one which we hoped would serve for the long term. In fact, it has served us very well, but we have outgrown our 20-year-old expectations. The lack of space in New Jersey forces us to ship too many parts from California with the inevitable delays and extra cost this entails. And it’s not as if the California warehouse has space to burn. The fact is, we’re bulging at the seams.

Knowing a move was inevitable, we took the opportunity to look at all our operations and ask what should be done differently. The obvious answer was to increase space back East. This would allow us to place more stock closer to major markets and reduce the strain on the California warehouse. In broad terms, any new facility would have to be centrally located, be near a major port and have reasonable facility costs, plus offer affordable housing and good quality of life for our staff.

By now many of you are aware that we have chosen a location near Richmond, Virginia. As you read this, we are in the process of designing and equipping the warehouse. With a chance to start from scratch, we want to ensure our material handling processes take advantage of the latest thinking in warehouse design and flow efficiency. However, we probably will not go so far as to equip the staff with roller skates.

For folks living in Virginia, our presence means all orders destined for delivery in the Old Dominion State must now carry sales tax. We apologize for this, but there is no alternative. As the new operation comes online, we hope having more stock available for inexpensive overnight delivery will help ease the pain. It will also now be possible for customers to pick up parts in person at our sales counter. Of course, New Jersey customers will no longer have to pay sales tax once we are out of our old building.

We have one other surprise in this issue of British Motoring. In case the classic Mini owners have not already noticed the ad, we’re preparing to distribute our first-ever classic Mini parts and accessories catalog. Make sure you tell us to include you in the mailing.

Moss Motors may be 60 years old this year, but with all of the goings-on, we feel like kids in a candy store. That may be a bit of an exaggeration. Let’s just say we feel like collectors who have just taken possession of a bigger house.

By Robert Goldman