Milwaukee Harley-Davidson Closing Temporarily
#4
10-21-2016, 07:31 AM
Seasoned HDF Member
At least around here, motorcycle dealers were always something of a low-rent operation. They'd come and go over the years, but were generally located in fairly modest parts of town, in fairly modest buildings. 1500 sq ft of showroom was a lot.
Then the boom years happened and the MoCo was able to demand that their dealers build these cathedrals to consumerism. 40 years ago, motorcycle stores were just motorcycle stores. Small. Functional. Utilitarian.
Anyway, the MoCo has built a ton of overhead into their distribution channel. All those dealers who built those cathedrals need to sell a ton of bikes to make their nut. When sales drop hard like they have in the last couple of years, those guys get pinched hard.
40 years ago, Omaha had one HD dealer in a crappy building in a crappy part of town. Today we have three, two of which are the latest generation cathedrals, and one of which is the previous generation cathedral. I wouldn't be surprised if five years from now we are back down to one. In a crappy building in a crappy part of town.
Then the boom years happened and the MoCo was able to demand that their dealers build these cathedrals to consumerism. 40 years ago, motorcycle stores were just motorcycle stores. Small. Functional. Utilitarian.
Anyway, the MoCo has built a ton of overhead into their distribution channel. All those dealers who built those cathedrals need to sell a ton of bikes to make their nut. When sales drop hard like they have in the last couple of years, those guys get pinched hard.
40 years ago, Omaha had one HD dealer in a crappy building in a crappy part of town. Today we have three, two of which are the latest generation cathedrals, and one of which is the previous generation cathedral. I wouldn't be surprised if five years from now we are back down to one. In a crappy building in a crappy part of town.
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#5
10-21-2016, 08:16 AM
Seasoned HDF Member
Rather surprising. I hope it's temporary as I have had good results from the service department.
And yes, "cathedral" might be a good word to describe some of these large buildings. This one is big enough to have indoor rider training. BUT, seeing as they are affiliated with the strip joint across the parking lot (same owners I believe) maybe cathedral is maybe not appropriate.
The worst part is for people that had bikes there. Sounds like a real pita for them.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
And yes, "cathedral" might be a good word to describe some of these large buildings. This one is big enough to have indoor rider training. BUT, seeing as they are affiliated with the strip joint across the parking lot (same owners I believe) maybe cathedral is maybe not appropriate.
The worst part is for people that had bikes there. Sounds like a real pita for them.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
#6
10-21-2016, 08:28 AM
Road Master
#7
10-21-2016, 08:29 AM
Big Kahuna HDF Member
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#8
10-21-2016, 08:31 AM
Seasoned HDF Member
#9
10-21-2016, 08:41 AM
Big Kahuna HDF Member
#10
10-21-2016, 08:54 AM
The owner, Hastings, also owns a number of bars and restaurants with a three county area. Many of them 'just happen' to be situated on scenic routes convenient to the dealership. You attend a charity ride, you organize and start at his dealership. You ride for an hour, through some nice country, you stop for a beverage (at one of his bars), then you ride awhile more. You stop for lunch (at his restaurant), then you ride back to his dealership for the after-party. His cash registers go ching-ching all day long.
He says he built MHD to be 'edgier' than other dealerships that catered to the usual guys 50's and 60's crowd. For example, he hired a tattoo artist to work inside the dealership. He advertized that of someone wanted to tattoo his dealership logo on their person, he would pay for it.
His place does share a parking lot with one of the area's better known strip clubs. I can easily see what would lead you to think 'same owners', but I don't think thats the case. However, there has always lots of "cooperation" between employees. I went to a Chili cook-off at his place a couple years ago. The strippers were working a couple of booths along with some other things, like the bike wash.
I do not have direct information, but the rumors I got were that Hastings was losing money at the dealership in a big way (like so many H-D dealers) and decided to sell the dealership. Folks are saying he used to the dealership as collateral in buying some of the bars/and or restaurants. The number guys are throwing around is $9mil in the hole, Maybe he finally found a buyer.
He says he built MHD to be 'edgier' than other dealerships that catered to the usual guys 50's and 60's crowd. For example, he hired a tattoo artist to work inside the dealership. He advertized that of someone wanted to tattoo his dealership logo on their person, he would pay for it.
His place does share a parking lot with one of the area's better known strip clubs. I can easily see what would lead you to think 'same owners', but I don't think thats the case. However, there has always lots of "cooperation" between employees. I went to a Chili cook-off at his place a couple years ago. The strippers were working a couple of booths along with some other things, like the bike wash.
I do not have direct information, but the rumors I got were that Hastings was losing money at the dealership in a big way (like so many H-D dealers) and decided to sell the dealership. Folks are saying he used to the dealership as collateral in buying some of the bars/and or restaurants. The number guys are throwing around is $9mil in the hole, Maybe he finally found a buyer.
Last edited by Curt5811; 10-21-2016 at 09:16 AM.