General Motors dealer closes `just in time'

MARK RICHARDSON/TORONTO STAR

The showroom’s empty now at Richardson Chevrolet, though the sales statement is still there on the wall.

Mark Richardson

WHEELS EDITOR

For years, the writing was literally on the wall for my local GM dealership. "Serving you for over three generations," said the hand-painted sign above the door. And on the wall opposite, looking down on the showroom: "We want you as our customer for life."

But the real writing on the wall appeared in recent months for Richardson Chevrolet of Milton. After 42 years on the same 3.2 hectares, Tom and Morley Richardson, no relation to me, accepted the inevitable and handed over their franchise last week to Wallace Pontiac Buick Cadillac up on Main St.

The dealership is now empty. Morley's sons Brent and Scott, the sales manager and service manager, now work for Wallace. Most of the 26 employees have either already found other jobs or retired.

"It's bittersweet," says Tom Richardson. "Sure it's sad, but we got out just in time."

Not long ago, the Richardsons invested $450,000 in plans for a large, modern building to take the business into the next generation, as Wallace had already done, but when the bottom dropped out of the market last year those plans were put on indefinite hold.

Richardson Chevrolet did not wait for the letter to arrive from General Motors, telling that its franchise would not be renewed. It will never be known for sure whether GM would have cut it loose, but this was still a small-town dealership in Canada's fastest-growing community, and everyone knows that's not enough any more.

Even Wallace would not have been safe from termination if it had not been able to replace its Pontiac lineup, which is being phased out by GM, with the affordable Chevrolet brand.

For others, huge investment and good intentions have not been enough. Some GM dealerships, in the middle of costly expansions to hold onto their market share, have already been told of their termination as the maker sheds some 240 dealerships from its roster of 705 across the country.

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