What's happening to HD Dealers is similar to what's happening globally to a lot of businesses.

Take auto parts stores for example - If it isn't an O'Reilly's, Pep Boys, AutoZone, etc., it's few and far between. The mom and pop auto parts store that had nearly every part you could imagine is all but history.

The chain stores are great if you want wax, cleaners, additives, floor mats, etc., but if you need a real part, good luck.

 

Detroit H-D was hit or miss when it came to new bike sales, parts, whetever. For a fact, Harley makes too many models for a dealer to stock anything more than high volume chrome. Sometimes I could get a discount there, sometimes not, but I will miss being able to drive home past the place and get something. The fact that Cement City continues to thrive (nice dealership in rural BFE) and that Ann Arbor H-D is closed tells me that it takes more than location near a well heeled population to suceed. Maybe the biggest problem for Detroit H-D is that they tended to cater to an urban blue collar clientele.

 

got some great buys last week.they wanted to move down west on rt 9 but the new rules say it has to be a huge amount of sq. Feet so he said ill close.so the days of the mom and pop dealership are over,i bet sheldons is next

 

A friend owns a Harley dealership nearby. He's surviving (barely) on service, parts and clothing sales, and selling used bikes (he sells 3 or more used to 1 new). I hope he can hang in, but, as we all know, these are tough times and Harley is quick to dump dealerships that are not moving enough new bikes.

 

Bitch when the mothership dictates how a business is operated , blatant market manipulation I'll never do business with the bastards again . Older used bikes are plentiful and the moco doesn't support anything over 10 yrs old anymore anyway and that suits me just fine .

 

What I think he is trying to say, that anyone living South of 8 mile Rd are most likely collecting some type of Government Assistants.


I grew up in Detroit (7 Mile and Southfield) area, lived in Ann Arbor, quite a few Detroit residence are on some type of government assistants.

 

Clinton was on government assistants. Downtown Detroit may be on
assistance.
People all around the country are in tough shape, take a look around LA sometime!!

 

OMG not that! Call the PC police!

 

After some of the comments about racism on this thread I goggled the demographics of Detroit. My perception of Detroit is not a positive one, but I have never been there. Detroit is 80% black or African American. I started riding motorcycles in 2005. Bought a road king classic. Most of my riding is done touring. I have been fortunate enough to have ridden about 50,000 miles since January of 05. I have ridden with one black person in all these miles and that was on a day ride. I don't remember seeing any black guys out touring America on a Harley. Just saying that culturally, Harley doesn't seem to attract Black America, thus the Harley dealerships in Detroit may struggle. This post is just my opinion based on personal observation. Another problem for a harley dealership that I have observed is that the new dealerships require a pretty good amount of land to build what is required. With the profit margins, the land must be cheap. This means that there is no supporting business close by. To be at most harley dealerships, you have to be going there on purpose. There is no walk in business which results is less traffic. However we harley owners seem to stop by dealerships while on the road just to look around.

 

The decision to close was the owners based on economic considerations. It was not HD's. All manufacturers suggest locations, buildings and other marketing ideas to help dealers make more money.

GM,Ford,Chrysler, Toyota, John Deere all do it. Beating on HD is like beating on a straw horse. It is not going to go anywhere.

None of you seem to not like loosing a dealer. Well so does HD. Having a strong viable dealer is in their interest, the dealers interest and you the customer. Many just can't seem to get their head around that concept.

There were too many dealers and half the customers that they had ten years ago. In addition many large population areas had many dealers in a very small area.

The turn around has already started with increased sales and higher profits. Now argue against that record.