Historically, when cars just appeared in the streets of Northern American cities, auto dealers tended to locate their dealerships downtown - a busy place of businesses, transportation lines, shops, and shoppers. Large "sales palace" designs, architecturally united with major hotels and banks, became a distinctive feature of auto dealers' showrooms in the 1920s. During the period of Depression in the 1930s, huge downtown showrooms were abandoned and dealerships moved to the suburbs, focusing on selling cheap used cars which enjoyed a higher demand in those tight years. After the Second World War, when suburban areas and freeway routes started flourishing, auto dealers relocated to larger properties in the vicinity of auto rows and major highways.

Old downtown dealerships, which now only live on vintage photographs and in memory of our senior citizens, have long ago provided spaces for other types of businesses. The current tendencies of Northern American car dealers are to move outwards, away from the inner city and towards freeways and remote suburbs.