MORGANTOWN — Andrew Cognac, owner of Premier Nissan at University Town Centre in Morgantown, has one simple is rule.
You can’t live in fear.
And like any business owner trying to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, Cognac tightened his belt. But he also took a chance. A multi-million one to be exact.
On Feb. 15, Cognac is unveiling his new 80,000-square-foot showroom and service area to the public. In addition to the ever-present reggae music playing in the background, Cognac will have food trucks and live radio.
“All good vibes,” he said.
“2020 was a decent year for us, but supply was down,” he said. “It just made us better operators.”
Cognac, who has an accounting degree from West Virginia University, literally grew up in the car-selling business. His father, John Cognac owns Premier Chevrolet next door and a family holding company owns the land where the dealerships are located.
Walking into Premier Nissan’s new building, good vibes are what you get immediately. The inside – which smells like a new building – is pristine. Each of the dealership’s 12 sales associates have their own office space they can have private conversations with buyers. There’s also plenty of room for buyers to examine cars inside the showroom of the building designed by Omni Associates of Fairmont.
“All of us had been in a trailer since August 2019,” Cognac said gesturing to the large tan trailer sitting in front of the new building, which took five months to complete. He said the trailer will be gone by the Feb. 15 grand opening.
“Morgantown is a great location and is growing,” he said. “Nissan wants us to be the number one dealer in West Virginia.”
In the back of the new Premier Nissan is the service area. Before building a new facility, Cognac had vehicles serviced in a former Hyundai building by the Morgantown Mall. Now, he has three mechanics who are certified to work on Nissans and 11 lifts for the vehicles.
“The whole nine yards,” he said. “They can literally work on anything.”
Cognac said Premier Nissan typically has 120 new and 30 used vehicles on the lot at any one time. Most of his customers come from the area, but he does sell a lot of vehicles in the Pittsburgh area too.
“I offer a 10-year, 200,000-mile power train warranty for free,” he said.
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