SOUTH BURLINGTON ― Tesla opened its only store in Vermont in the former Hannaford supermarket off Shelburne Road on a drizzly Thursday afternoon, drawing an enthusiastic crowd of dozens of fans to tour the facility and ogle a stainless steel Cybertruck stuffed into the small showroom.

The angular truck, weighing in at more than three tons, measures 18 1/2 feet long and nearly eight feet wide with its mirrors extended, and took up the entire showroom. Todd Lockwood, who manages the Vermont Tesla Owners Group, said he was surprised by the small size of the showroom when he first saw it.

“It looks small with this Cybertruck in here, it’s a big vehicle,” Lockwood said. “The only thing that would make it look smaller would be having a Tesla semi parked in here. But you can put a Tesla (Model) 3 and a (Model) Y in here together, or a Model S and X together, so it’s usable, but most of the larger Tesla facilities have 50% more showroom space than this.”

Tesla store in South Burlington has lots of empty space

Most of the nearly 47,000 square foot building housing the Tesla store is taken up with a cavernous service department and lots of empty space.

“There may have been some considerations about spending right now because Tesla’s been in a little bit of a dip lately,” Lockwood said. “In fact if this whole project had been scheduled six months later than they did they might have scrapped the whole thing.”

So far in 2024, Tesla’s stock price has fallen 30.4%, according to Morningstar, following a 15.3% loss in 2023. The stock is currently priced at about $174 per share, roughly two-thirds of its previous peak of around $258 in December 2023.

No more trips to Latham, New York, to service your Tesla

Lockwood welcomed the opening of the Tesla store nevertheless, and especially its service department. Now he and the other estimated 3,000 Tesla owners in Vermont will no longer have to drive to Latham, New York, near Albany, for servicing, nearly a three-hour drive for Lockwood.

“The other option was Montreal,” Lockwood said. “The problem with going to Canada is if they give you a loaner car you’re not allowed to bring it back across the border. You’re stuck up there.”

More: Tesla will offer sales and service of its electric vehicles at South Burlington site

Lockwood was an unofficial spokesman for Tesla at the opening event, as Tesla employees are not allowed to speak to the press, referring a reporter to Lockwood. Lockwood said he was also enlisted by Tesla to notify the press in advance of the opening.

“They approached me a couple of weeks ago at the corporate level,” Lockwood said. “They said, ‘We heard about what you’re doing up there. We wondered if the club would be willing to send out a press release for us.’”

Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosi@gannett.com. Follow him on X @DanDambrosioVT.