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I live in Sarasota, FL south of the Bay Area aka Tampa/St. Petersburg.
There is one MINI dealer in this area. Ferman MINI of Tampa Bay. Taking liberties with that definition the dealership is located in Palm Harbor (north of Clearwater) which is over a 90 minute drive off-peak. In peak traffic, it would be well over two hours. The access to this part of Pinellas County is very limited from freeways with the endgame taking you up or down Rt. 19 for several miles of near death experiences and traffic lights. If they sought out the least accessible area of the region, they found it.
Apart from this dealership, your options are to drive to West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale or Orlando.
Over a million people live south of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge that connects Southwest Florida with the Bay Area via I-275. Residents of cities such as Sarasota, Ft. Myers, Bradenton, and Naples are either forced to make this slog up to Pinellas or across Alligator Alley to the South Florida dealers.
Tragically, Sarasota's Southpointe BMW was an original petitioner of BMW for a MINI dealership, but not selected. This was a disappointing error on MINIUSA's part. Sarasota is not only a reasonably affluent area. It's also culturally sophisticated and environmentally progressive. The streets here a teeming with Priuses and other hybrids and it is also home to a Smart franchise and I have seen several on the road.
There are many Minis on the road here as well despite the lack of attention to this region.
In short, Sarasota is tailor made MINI country, but I can't help but thinking that the number sold here is being driven down by the lack of a dealership and the unfortunate souls like myself with a MINI here are abandoned. It drives down MINI resale in the area and makes owning and servicing a MINI through the dealership a nightmare.
I'm sure Southpointe could make some room for Minis in the Land Rover dealership they own next door to their BMW shop.
I have heard that Naples (Germain group) might be the next MINI franchise in the state of Florida.
Here in Miami we are spoiled. One dealer is 3 miles from my house, the other 12 miles and Lauderdale MINI (Where I buy and get service) is only a 30 mile trek.
You guys in the west coast and central Florida are punked with those far away dealers and no saturday service hours.
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I have heard that Naples (Germain group) might be the next MINI franchise in the state of Florida.
Here in Miami we are spoiled. One dealer is 3 miles from my house, the other 12 miles and Lauderdale MINI (Where I buy and get service) is only a 30 mile trek.
You guys in the west coast and central Florida are punked with those far away dealers and no saturday service hours.
You also forgot the one in Palm Beach.
When I lived on South Beach, I was a short little jog from the MINI dealer on US 1. That would have been nice. I could bike home from there over the Venetian Causeway.
It would be a tough call between Naples and Palm Harbor. I have also heard Ft. Myers BMW as a possible candidate. That would make the most sense that it would split distance between Naples and Sarasota. I have a BMW dealer 2 miles from me in Sarasota so that would be my first choice obviously. Actually why not be greedy, put them in Sarasota and Naples.
[RANTING-RAVING]
Which ever dealer ends up getting the MINI franchise I hope they treat it with the proper respect that its due.
Where I live the closest MINI dealer is more of a BMW dealer with MINI being the neglected red headed step child.
Half the time you can't even tell there is a MINI dealer there, they have all the BMW's parked in front of the MINI's blocking the view from the street.
As a matter of fact I only found out they were there because Carmax on the otherside of the highway told me that there was a MINI dealer on the otherside.
Their showroom doesn't appear to have received the proper attention to asthetics and showroom layout is deplorable and miniscule (no pun intended).
Now just across the border in North Carolina there is Hendricks MINI that has a really cool showroom/parts department/MINI toystore-clothing department
and even a glass showcase that has trophies won by local MINI club customers.[/RANTING-RAVING]
Oops! Sorry, didn't mean to jump up on my soap box and hijack your thread...
Encore Motorcars in Sarasota is a great place to take you Mini. They have 2 BMW technicians and they are great! All the people are very nice there and they have good prices for excellent work. This will save you the drive to Tampa or Miami. You should check them out! www.encoreautos.com
You should check them out! 
