Retail news :MarineMax Acquires Florida Boat Dealer

MarineMax Inc., the nation’s largest recreational boat and yacht retailer, has acquired Parker Boat Company’s retail boat sales and service operations in Orlando and Daytona, FL. Parker Boat Company has served the boating community for over 85 years.

With this acquisition, MarineMax will now have exclusive distribution for the Sea Ray product line for the entire state of Florida as well as additional distribution territory for Boston Whaler, Grady-White, and Sea Hunt Boats, along with other brands. As part of the transaction, MarineMax will lease the Orlando and Daytona-based stores, increasing its store count to 55.

The newly acquired geographic markets are contiguous with MarineMax’s existing Florida operations, and the company expects to achieve operational benefits over time by combining the management, marketing, and infrastructure of its other stores in the region. The newly acquired stores will focus on selling their existing boat brands as well as leveraging MarineMax’s additional product offerings.

“The Parker Boat Company name is synonymous with customer service and boating throughout the Central Florida area," said William H. McGill, Jr., chairman, president, and CEO of MarineMax. "We look forward to building on their customer-centric traditions, which are similar to MarineMax’s, while broadening their product offerings even further. Parker Boat Company’s market area is a corridor to both the East and West Coasts of Florida and is also one of the fastest growing parts of the state. We believe this business combination, with the experienced Parker team and loyal customer following, combined with the integration of our contiguous stores will further strengthen our ability to serve this strong boating market.”

Headquartered in Clearwater, FL, MarineMax is the nation’s largest recreational boat and yacht retailer. Focused on premium brands, such as Sea Ray, Boston Whaler, Meridian, Cabo, Hatteras, Azimut Yachts, Grady-White, Bayliner, Harris FloteBote, Crest, Scout, Mako, Sailfish, Nautique and Malibu, MarineMax sells new and used recreational boats and related marine products and provides yacht brokerage and charter services. MarineMax currently has 55 retail locations in Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas and operates MarineMax Vacations in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.  

( Source Marine Max through SportsOneSource )