Wed Feb 08 2012
A decision by General Motors to yank the franchise of Marhofer Chevrolet -- one of Stow's oldest continuously owned family businesses -- is a shock, the latest in a series regarding auto dealerships, but this one is hard to understand.
The dealership, whose roots date back to the post World War I era when Stow Township was a rural crossroads community, is doing well in a period of excruciating pain for the auto industry. It gainfully employs about 80. Ron Marhofer, the owner, has been an exemplary corporate citizen in the community. We find it difficult to comprehend what GM is accomplishing by not continuing the dealership franchise after 2010.
The news about the Marhofer dealership comes on the heels of upheavals throughout the retail part of the industry. Hudson lost its Clarke Volkswagen, formerly known as Clarke Ford, dealership. Serpentini Chevrolet, whose advertising has become a television staple, has sold its Aurora dealership to the huge Ganley dealership chain, whose owner, Tom Ganley, is seeking a nomination to the U.S.Senate.
Bob Serpentini says the sale will allow him to focus on his three other dealerships, including one in Tallmadge, that he calls "healthy." We hope they stay that way, along with Classic Auto Group and Great Lakes Hyundai on I-480 in Streetsboro, which until recently had no dealerships at all.
Since the 1920s, auto dealerships have been one of the bedrocks of retailing in so many communities, like the banks before all the consolidations, the corporate citizens who stepped up to the plate to support activities that enriched the communities in which they were located.
Change is inevitable, of course, but what can replace the contributions of so many auto dealerships is a worrisome prospect.
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