Lexus of Lehigh Valley owner Peter Cooper, left, reminisces this morning with former Continental Motors employees Ron Lerch, center, and Angelo Karaminas at the Lexus Experience on Easton's Center Square. Lerch and Karaminas worked many years ago for Cooper's father, Doug,

When Ron Lerch was in 10th grade in 1955, he began working at Continental Motors at 15th and Northampton streets in Easton.

Angelo Karaminas got a job there in 1972.

Both over time worked for Doug Cooper, and both went on to successful second careers in very different occupations -- Lerch as a Wilson Borough firefighter and Karaminas running Angelo's Restaurant in the first block of North Fourth Street in Easton.

But when Lexus of the Lehigh Valley owner Peter Cooper arrived this morning to check out the soft opening of his new pop-up store on the first floor of the Alpha Building on Easton's Centre Square, Lerch and Karaminas were there to greet him and relive old times.

Continental Motors branched out from Lincoln and Mercury to sell Mercedes. Lerch said he would head to eastern New Jersey for weeklong classes on all things Mercedes so he could work on the German cars.

Lerch was a second-generation worker at Continental. He said his father worked there from 1946 until retiring in 1972, being given a new Ford Granada by Doug Cooper -- Peter's father -- as a retirement present.

Karaminas said he didn't speak a word of English when he started the job. This morning, he and Lerch only had words of praise for the Coopers, a longtime Easton family.

Nate Wiener, social media director for the South Whitehall Township dealership, said the store's first customer actually came in Wednesday.

A Lexus LFA is on display in September 2012 at Lexus of the Lehigh Valley.

The store -- where you can't buy anything but can see 14 Lexus automobiles, including a $400,000 LFA super car -- asked the city to block off four parking meters out front for the day because of large deliveries that were expected. The bags over the parking meters said "Lexus," he said.

A man from Staten Island, New York, pulled into one of the spots in a Lexus. He was bringing his family to the nearby Crayola Experience and came in to the store to ask, since the bags said "Lexus," if he could park there.

Wiener, knowing the store's target market, said certainly.

"It's exactly what we're after," Wiener said as final details were being put in place for the venue called the Lexus Experience, inside the former Crayola Store. "A Lexus customer from New York. What more can you ask for?"

The store is attempting to work out a deal to partner with Crayola so visitors to the children's venue get something -- such as a voucher for a free test drive at the Allentown area dealership, which are free anyway, he said with a laugh. The parents, in turn, might wander a few doors away and look at luxury cars.

The store is open 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, he said. Sunday hours are possible in the future, he said.

If you wondered how they got the cars into the building, a new door was put in the front, several feet to the right of the entrance. But Wiener said it was far more difficult moving the cars around the thick pillars in the square showroom.

Asked if customers would be able to take test drives, Wiener said no: Now that the cars are finally in place, no one is moving them until the pop-up store's run ends after the holidays.