RICHMOND, Va. -

On Thursday, CarMax celebrated the grand opening of the company’s largest multi-purpose location on the West Coast to drive both its wholesale and retail businesses.

Located in in Murrieta, Calif., the company said CarMax Murrieta will serve as a reconditioning hub that will feed inventory to several of its stores in southern California. The location will also house CarMax’s first, and largest, four-lane auction facility on the West Coast.

In addition to production and auctions services, the 35-acre property has a separate building for selling used vehicles. The facility is located at 25560 Madison Avenue and has the capacity to stock up to 400 vehicles at a given time.

CarMax highlighted the opening of this new location has brought more than 250 jobs to Murrieta.

“The CarMax Auctions business is continuing to grow and we have been holding two auctions per week at some of our CarMax locations in the Los Angeles region in order to keep up with demand,” said Carlos Raygoza, auction services location general manager of CarMax Murrieta.

“The new four-lane auction facility in Murrieta will greatly support our continued growth, as we look forward to serving as many as 500 local dealers attending the auction on a weekly basis,” Raygoza continued.

The Murrieta location is one of two new stores that opened this month in the Los Angeles area. CarMax also opened a store in Palmdale. Together, the Murrieta and Palmdale stores have brought more than 300 jobs to the Los Angeles region.

In celebration of the Murrieta store opening, CarMax donated $5,000 to Michelle’s Place, a local nonprofit organization that supports women and their families with cancer care. CarMax associates recently volunteered with Michelle’s Place and nominated the organization to receive the donation.

CarMax also announced on Thursday that The CarMax Foundation will be providing a $10,000 grant to the Boys & Girls Club in Murrieta to support 100 local underserved youth. CarMax is also awarding a $10,000 grant to the Special Olympics Southern California to help fund sports equipment, coaching materials and transportation of youth athletes. CarMax associates nominated the Boys & Girls Club in Murrieta and Special Olympics Southern California to receive these grants. 

“Our Murrieta associates have been so excited about the volunteer activities we’ve been doing with these wonderful organizations in the area,” said Christian Petersen, location general manager at CarMax Murrieta. “CarMax encourages associates to get involved and give back to our local communities and we are pleased to continue making a positive impact in Murrieta.”

The CarMax Foundation will also be donating an Imagination Playground valued at more than $15,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Perris through its partnership with KaBOOM to make play more accessible to children and families. Imagination Playgrounds are innovative, loose-parts playgrounds that engage kids in creative play that is physically challenging and collaborative. The Boys & Girls Club of Perris partners with 13 local elementary schools and plans to incorporate the Imagination Playground in educational programming at each of these schools on a rotating basis.

The CarMax Foundation has granted more than $35 million on behalf of associates across the country since 2003.