It’s difficult to believe that it’s now been 15 years since the appearance of the first so-called “auto superstore,†CarMax, in Richmond, Virginia.
The concept, further propagated by the imitating AutoNation, took the auto sales industry into the “big box†era of gigantic retail outlets such as Wal-Mart, Costco, etc. CarMax itself started as a unit of Circuit City, until it was spun off separately in 2002.
Monster Dealers
From the began they opened as many “monster lots†as possible throughout America, and even into Canada. The lots carried more than a thousand used cars, minivans and trucks of all makes and models.