Its a sign of the times. When money gets tight, toys are the first things to go. If Obama and his congessional minions get their way with cap and trade legislation, we will all be riding little electric scooters. I agree with the last post. Let the revolution begin!

 

I knew this was coming a year ago.....The economy is in the crapper and the crapper is yet flushed...This ain't nuthin Friends, stay tuned, it's gonna get much worse fast.

Lots of fine bikes around here up for sale below book. Coworker has his 06 dressed out Road King for sale. Only 11K on it and fully dressed with lots of extras in show room condition. He's come down to 12K and still no takers. A dressed out '08 Super Glide is in the paper-only 800 miles on it and the guy wants 8.5K !....Plus lots of other great deals on many more bikes and camper trailers and such.....Yep, it's getting bad

 

That really sucks. I live a mile from them and get great customer service from them, the parts guys are great. Gonna miss their little get togethers too. Huge HOG chapter here too.

 

It's happening all over, but not because the MoCo is making them close, they're closing for business reasons (or lack of). Sign of the times I guess. With 10% unemployment, bike purchases and bling for that matter, are way down.

 

I consolidated our businesses. Even though our business is not a Harley dealership, that would be a dream come true for us to be able to do it again! Another year on my lease and I can downsize more of the unused square footage.

Lots of advantages to that, of course a couple of downsides to that too (traffic convenience).

I think most folks are worried more about surviving today than how they're gonna grow at the moment.

 

Used bikes are selling..........much cheaper. People are holding onto their money where possible. Can't blame them for that.

Harley needs to come up with some incentives. Better sales with reduced income than no sales at all.

 

The first post of this thread talks about Elk Grove closing (owned by Jay at Sacramento HD). I didn't patronize Elk Grove much but when I received the newsletter from Sacramento they told us that the MoCo had contacted all the dealerships with two or more dealerships in the same area and asked them to consolidate into one (if I remember right, it said over the next year or next two years).

I mentioned this to the guys at Rocklin HD (the Guidera family.....yes, Matt Guidera's father.....owned Rocklin, Jackson and Folsom HD) and there newsletter stated that they were here for their customers, at all three locations and would continue to be.....that contrary to rumor they had no intentions of closing any of their stores. Approx. nine months later they closed the Jackson dealership and a month later the new dealership in Rocklin (they'd just bought that less than two years ago!). And, the whole family is back to working in the only store left, in Folsom......including Matt, his sister and their father, Tiko.

I recently heard that Jamestown HD (a favorite stop for those headed up into the mountains) is going to close right after a big run (fund raiser) they have planned. It's owned by Mitchell's Modesto HD. Was in Jamestown this past weekend and they deny that they're closing (but so did the Guidera stores, just before they closed). We'll see.

I can't help but wonder if maybe the employees in these dealerships aren't finding out till the last couple of weeks or so? Anybody been let go at a dealership that closed that can weigh in on this?