Editor’s Note: This story was originally reported for our content partner, GlobeSt.com.
PHILADELPHIA, PA—(SBN)—Online used car retailer Carvana, which pioneered the concept of web-based purchase of autos for direct delivery to buyers’ homes, is extending its franchise with a collection of “car vending machines” across the country that provide high visibility for the retailer’s business while engaging buyers with a novelty feel for the car deliver experience.
Carvana’s first retail location in the Delaware Valley has opened in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, adjacent to I-95 on Front Street, just south of Girard Avenue.
The leasing team from Metro Commercial Real Estate that helped Carvana arrange the location was led by Michael Gorman, executive vice president and principal, and Stephen Carrozza, vice president.
“The Carvana requirement is such that they wanted to be in an urban environment, where it could be seen from the highway, and also be safe and access be easy,” says Gorman. “Carvana was able to work with the neighborhood and make them feel comfortable with what they were doing. Carvana was building these vending machines in other parts of the country, so they could point to these other vending machines,” as examples of how the finished project would look.
Customers who visit Carvana.com can shop more than 10,000 vehicles, finance, purchase, and sell their current vehicle to Carvana in as little as 10 minutes.
Philadelphia’s Carvana car vending machine is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., free for all Carvana customers.
“There’s sort of a ceremony involved, you get a token and put it into a slot, and you see your car come down,” says Gorman. “It’s a real celebratory atmosphere, which is how it should be. They make it fun to buy a car.”
Steve Lubetkin is the news director for StateBroadcastNews.com. Steve’s journalism background includes print and broadcast reporting for NJ news organizations. He refocused on multimedia journalism and podcast production after a long career in corporate branded journalism and public relations.
He has won numerous awards for his audio and video news reporting from the Garden State Journalists Association, and he has also been recognized for video by the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He has produced a wide range of audio and video podcasts in his other role as managing partner of State Broadcast News’s parent, The Lubetkin Media Companies.
Steve is co-author, with Toronto-based podcasting pioneer Donna Papacosta, of the book, The Business of Podcasting: How to Take Your Podcasting Passion from the Personal to the Professional.
In March 2021, he was elected to the board of directors of the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and in July 2021 he was named secretary of the chapter. In August 2021, he was honored by SPJ with one of the organization’s 2021 Howard S. Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Awards, given to regular members of an SPJ chapter who go above and beyond in serving their chapter.
Steve has been the computer columnist for the Jewish Community Voice of Southern New Jersey, since 1996.
Steve also has reported on-camera and produces virtual conferences for NJSpotlightNews.org, a public policy news coverage website focused on New Jersey government and industry; and for clients of StateBroadcastNews.com, a division of The Lubetkin Media Companies LLC.
From May-November 2019, he produced and reported a weekly podcast, The CRE News Hour, a news and features program focusing on the commercial real estate industry.
From 2014 to 2019 he was New Jersey and Philadelphia editor for GlobeSt.com and filled in covering Chicago/Midwest and Atlanta.
Steve has also served (from August 2017 to March 2018) as national broadcast news correspondent for CEOReport.com, a news website focused on practical advice for senior executives in small- and medium-sized companies.
Earlier in his career, Steve reported on rock music at the Jersey Shore for the Asbury Park Press, and was a broadcast news anchor and production engineer for WJLK-AM & FM, then owned by the Press. He also worked as a general assignment reporter for the Red Bank Register, Shrewsbury, NJ.
You can email Steve at steve@statebroadcastnews.com.
