Local Harley dealer closing

[dpetrick]

Okoboji Harley Davidson is closing. Also closing is Ernie's HD,in Algona, owned by the same folks. It is sad to see a dealership close, especially one in a small town.

[ARtraveler]

Never good to see a business go away in a small town. We have the same here...lots of vacant buildings. It has a lot to do with local support. Many here run up to Branson or Springfield MO for their big ticket items.

So far, I have found all those needs here locally.

We ran into a similar situation with the local dealers in Alaska. Originally, there were two. One in Anchorage, and one in Eagle River with a branch in Wasilla.

The Anchorage dealer was never a good one. They were the "nightmare" dealer. Long waits, bad techs, etc, etc. I bought all five of my Spyders from the Eagle River dealer. Their service and tech ability was good until the last two years. By 2018, they were no longer going to sell the Spyder line. They said they would do service for the next two years. I left the state in 2019 and did not do that service until I got to Arkansas.

I guess I moved at the right time...since I still love the Spyder Line.

[dpetrick]

The closure of these two dealerships puts the closest Harley dealer at 75 miles away. Thee trend in our area seems to be small town dealerships closing, leaving only larger communities with dealerships. This is not happening only in the power sports business, it is also happening in the auto industry. Dickinson County has a population of 17,000, is a tourist area, and has Indian Motorcycle Plant and Pure Fishing (Berkley fishing gear). We still have an Indian dealership. Nearest CanAm dealer is 40 miles. It is actually a division of a Case IH implement dealer. The have a location 16 miles from here that sells farm equipment and CanAm off road, but does not service or sell Spyder. The Worthington, MN location is a full line CanAm dealer and has a good service center.

[wyliec]

I typically see posts where Spyder dealers go out of business, and I think part of the problem is lack of Spyder owner support. By that I mean I have read here many, many times where we hear from owners that they perform their own service, typically because they can and they like doing it; I also have read many times where someone can save a few bucks on parts by going somewhere other than the dealer. Eventually, the dealers money earned from service and/or parts, where there is a good profit, becomes less and less. So, the next step is to get rid of their grade A+ mechanic, and parts person (s) and replace with a C-. This move then leads to a bad reputation that flows over into their sales, by word of mouth. That dealer either quits selling the Spyder line, or may just decide to fold up.

My feeling was, if you have a good dealer, support them, so they continue. This is just my opinion, and mileage may vary. I'm not saying that trying to save money is a bad thing, but in some instances it leads to bad things.

I know the original post was about Harley, but the Spyder was mentioned. Now, back to watching the UFC.

[Jeriatric]

Many are still struggling, and have done so since the financial collapse over 10 yrs ago. Looking at the history of this particular dealer, he opened his doors just over 10 years ago. A tough time to start any business but if you do and succeed, you learn a lot. Most likely they got tired of pulling the load. It's a shame, but there are signs of the downturn that are still visible in every city across this country. They say it wasn't as bad as '29? In some ways it wasn't, in other ways. Not so sure.

10 years. They gave it their best shot. My hat is off to them.

[dpetrick]

wyliec, along those lines I do support the Spyder dealer nearest me by having them do service work and buying things from them. I also have a Kawasaki Nomad, and the dealer I bought it from is 20 miles from me. They do all the service work on it.
I have noticed that these smaller shops provide excellent customer service, because they get to know their customers. Some of the larger dealerships lose this connection to their customers.
Service manager at the Spyder dealership knows me by name when I come in, and is we discuss what needs to be done on the Spyder. Kawasaki mechanic and I are on a first name basis and it is the same there, he knows the service history of my Nomad and does not try to sell additional services.
Both these dealerships are good to deal with and often suggest things that save me money on service. When I had a new rear tire put on the Spyder, they gave me a discount on the tire. They did the same when I purchased a helmet and jacket also.
I am not sure why the Harley dealer is closing, but find it interesting that is is closing, and not being sold.
In this internet world I hope enough people keep buying locally to keep these smaller dealerships open.

[dpetrick]

Many are still struggling, and have done so since the financial collapse over 10 yrs ago. Looking at the history of this particular dealer, he opened his doors just over 10 years ago. A tough time to start any business but if you do and succeed, you learn a lot. Most likely they got tired of pulling the load. It's a shame, but there are signs of the downturn that are still visible in every city across this country. They say it wasn't as bad as '29? In some ways it wasn't, in other ways. Not so sure.

10 years. They gave it their best shot. My hat is off to them.

Yes this location has only been open about 10 years, but the parent dealership has been around much longer. It originally started in Estherville, as part of the John Deere dealers business. Then in 2008 or so moved to Okoboji. They also have a shop in Algona, which is also closing. It could be a retirement of the owner. Since, as far as I know, they have not been sold. Wondering if they possibly did not do enough volume sales to satisfy HD requirements.
On the other hand check out Storm Lake Honda, they are one of the larger Honda dealers in the US, and they are in the small town of Storm Lake, IA. They have people coming from all over to purchase Hondas form them. They had brand new 2016 Goldwings for $16,999 and sold a ton of them. I have to say I was tempted to get a Goldwing.

[Jeriatric]

Yes this location has only been open about 10 years, but the parent dealership has been around much longer. It originally started in Estherville, as part of the John Deere dealers business. Then in 2008 or so moved to Okoboji. They also have a shop in Algona, which is also closing. It could be a retirement of the owner. Since, as far as I know, they have not been sold. Wondering if they possibly did not do enough volume sales to satisfy HD requirements.
On the other hand check out Storm Lake Honda, they are one of the larger Honda dealers in the US, and they are in the small town of Storm Lake, IA. They have people coming from all over to purchase Hondas form them. They had brand new 2016 Goldwings for $16,999 and sold a ton of them. I have to say I was tempted to get a Goldwing.

One would almost certainly think they looked at selling. It may not have been publicly offered. Just a hunch. The dealer in Storm Lake sounds like the Original Spyder dealer in Missouri. When you get the right people to run, and support a business, BOOM!

[Gwolf]

I typically see posts where Spyder dealers go out of business, and I think part of the problem is lack of Spyder owner support. By that I mean I have read here many, many times where we hear from owners that they perform their own service, typically because they can and they like doing it; I also have read many times where someone can save a few bucks on parts by going somewhere other than the dealer. Eventually, the dealers money earned from service and/or parts, where there is a good profit, becomes less and less. So, the next step is to get rid of their grade A+ mechanic, and parts person (s) and replace with a C-. This move then leads to a bad reputation that flows over into their sales, by word of mouth. That dealer either quits selling the Spyder line, or may just decide to fold up.

My feeling was, if you have a good dealer, support them, so they continue. This is just my opinion, and mileage may vary. I'm not saying that trying to save money is a bad thing, but in some instances it leads to bad things.

I know the original post was about Harley, but the Spyder was mentioned. Now, back to watching the UFC.

When you buy a new Spyder from a dealership and they have supposedly serviced it and it is ready to ride, you tend to not want that dealer to ever touch it again after you get it home and find 10 or 15 things that should have been taken care of, but were not. 10 psi difference in front tire pressures. Rear tire psi not within specs. Spare key they gave me was not for that Spyder. Lots of other things. It was bad enough I went over the whole bike again checking levels, loose fasteners, and everything. If I have to do the job over once I get it home, there is no point at all in allowing them to do it and paying to have it done.

[Navydad]

Our small town HD dealership wasn't setting any sales records lately, but they had a great parts and service crew that brought business from a pretty good distance. The owner of the shop was also the owner of another local business. He didn't know squat about motorcycles so he let a capable crew run the HD shop and they ran it well for many years. He got into some kind of tiff with HD and let his ego get the best of him. Told HD if they didn't like it to come and get their stuff. They did and now he is crying the blues and a great parts guy and two very good techs are out of a job. Our town lost what was a really competent dealership.

[wyliec]

When you buy a new Spyder from a dealership and they have supposedly serviced it and it is ready to ride, you tend to not want that dealer to ever touch it again after you get it home and find 10 or 15 things that should have been taken care of, but were not. 10 psi difference in front tire pressures. Rear tire psi not within specs. Spare key they gave me was not for that Spyder. Lots of other things. It was bad enough I went over the whole bike again checking levels, loose fasteners, and everything. If I have to do the job over once I get it home, there is no point at all in allowing them to do it and paying to have it done.

My point was to support a good dealer, before they turn.

[Gwolf]

My point was to support a good dealer, before they turn.

I am about 75 miles from a bad dealer and maybe 150 or more miles from the possibility of finding a good dealer. The brown truck with the UPS on the side is my dealer of choice.

[C. Lee]

We lost a couple of HD dealers here in north east Ohio a few years back but the local gossip was that Harley was requiring things like a big new building and more inventory then the dealer was willing or capable of complying with at the time. The 2 dealers closed and 1 opened in it's place with a different building and location. Maybe the closing had something to do with Harley requirements changing against the dealer. I don't know. Chris

[Zoot]

I had a part in designing a local car dealer's shiny new facilities. The car manufacturer that they rep told every dealer in the country that they were going to have to give every facility a matching look and feel aligned with the new theme if they wanted to keep their franchise. I don't know the final cost but it was (I believe) tens of millions of dollars.

[dpetrick]

This shop opened in 2008, and was a big fancy building. The county I am located in has a population of 18,000 people and is not near a major population center. During the summer the area is one of the bigger cities in Iowa, with the huge influx of tourists.
A great place to live.