By Dominik Lobkowicz
After over 60 years as a Chevy dealer in Waldoboro, Harold C. Ralph Chevrolet is closing its doors. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
Steve Ralph (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
Waldoboro’s last remaining brand-name car dealership, Harold C. Ralph Chevrolet, will be closed for good after June 26, according to co-owner Steve Ralph.
Originally a Dodge dealer, Steve’s grandfather Harold Ralph got into the business of dealing Chevys after being offered the franchise from a Massachusetts man who owned a Chevrolet dealership in Waldoboro, Steve Ralph said.
The man and his family couldn’t get adjusted to small-town life and offered the dealership to Harold, Steve Ralph said.
“Back then buying a franchise was so different from today. It was done really on a handshake and here’s a few dollars,” and Harold built the building at the business’s Route 1 location in 1953, as Steve Ralph recalled.
Harold had bought and sold cars, mostly used, for a long time before running the Chevrolet dealership, and operated garages on Route 1 and where Maine Antique Digest is now headquartered on Main Street, Steve Ralph said.
Steve’s father (and current co-owner) Ronald Ralph and aunt Helen Eugley later ran the Chevy dealership for several years before buying Harold out, and Steve eventually bought out his aunt’s share, he said.
“This isn’t something I do lightly,” Steve Ralph said of the shutdown. “This is something I’ve been pondering for two years, what to do, how to do it. Truthfully I really wanted to sell it so that the people had a new car presence and someplace they can go and have their service work done locally.”
Ralph cited a number of reasons for the business closing: the dealership is too small to compete in today’s market, the bank is pulling its financing for the cars on the lot, the economic conditions over the last six or seven years, and that none of his children or step-children have an interest in taking over the business.
“I made an attempt to try to sell to others, but nobody seemed to be all that interested in expanding to this area,” Ralph said. “It just left me, really, with only one alternative and that was to close. It’s not something I do easily; I’ve worked here for 44 years this year. We’ve been a Chevy dealer for over 60.”
“We have great customers, repeat customers, made great friends and it’s really very hard to do but it’s something that’s just got to be done. I cannot continue – I have no more money to put in,” he said.
The most recent brand-name competition in town was Waldoboro Ford, which closed down decades ago.
“That really hurt our business, believe it or not, because having another dealer here in town was another draw to bring people in,” Ralph said.
Of the 10 current employees at the dealership, seven have already found new jobs to go to. The other three, including Ralph, are over retirement age, he said.
“It’s been hard with employees. I’ve got employees that have been with me, some of them 25 up to 45 years. It’s tough to look them in the eye and say it’s over,” Ralph said.
Ralph is unsure what he’ll do, and plans to take several weeks to sort things out and ponder his future.
“I’ve had a lot of phone calls from a lot of customers who know about it now and I’ve had people stop in and wish me well and thank me and I’d thank them, and probably a tear or two has flowed,” Ralph said. “I feel bad that it’s happening, but there’s nothing that can reverse it.”