Page 93 - South Mississippi Living - January, 2019

story by Jeff Clark photo by Teddy Lewis
or D’Iberville business owner and visionary Bobby Mandal, it all started with a Toyota dealership in Gulfport. “I opened my first dealership in 1971 in Gulfport,” Mandal said.
But even then, he said he knew he wanted something
else — a BMW dealership on the Coast. He also wanted to spend more time at his home in South Mississippi, which was difficult because he owned dealerships in Mobile. In the late 1990s he opened Mandal Pontiac Buick GMC, which is now Mandal Buick GMC off Interstate 10 in D’Iberville.
“I wanted to be closer to home and I saw the value in having
a place in D’Iberville,” he said. “I-10 and I-110 is the gateway
to the Coast. It took me about
15 years to get the Mississippi Department of Transportation to
Galleria BMW
11282 Mandal Pky, D’Iberville, MS 228.232.0333 | www.galleriabmw.com
put in the off ramps and it has paid off. D’iberville has gone from doing about $50 million in yearly business 20 years ago to about $650 million this year.”
In 2017, his 40-plus year dream of bringing a BMW dealership
to South Mississippi came to fruition. Galleria BMW opened in the summer of 2017. Mandal says it has become the number one BMW dealership in the U.S.
“I’ve been wanting to get a BMW dealership since 1972,” he said. “We’ve been working on it for 45 years and we finally got their attention about four years ago. We had to apply for it just like anyone else.”
Mandal had an ace up his sleeve that helped to solidify the deal with BMW — the dealership would be one of the anchors for the Galleria shopping center,
his vision of a shopping and entertainment center that will sit on 80 acres at the intersection of I-10 and I-110.
“I sent BMW the marketing study I had done for the Galleria,” he said. “It’s going to be one of the only places like it in the country. And none of this would be possible without the help of the leaders of D’Iberville. Mayor Rusty Quave and his team have been instrumental in putting D’Iberville on the map.”
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January 2019 • SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living 93
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