twin city closed!

Well i found out today that Twin City bmw in Savoy il has closed as of 3p.m.last saturday.Looks like my trips to the local shop will be a lot longer. Ed

Hmmm, hadn't seen any rumors floating around that I recall. :dunno

NOOO
This can't be, not another good shop.
Ben

They've been selling alot of bikes lately on ebay.. so maybe they were cleaning out their inventory?

Intreresting press release on the topic of dealerships:

[B]BMW Motorrad USA Expands Dealer Network with the Opening of Eight New Facilities

* 10.02.2010
* Press Release

BMW Brand Targets Growing Number of Dual-Sport Riders

Woodcliff Lake, NJ – February 10, 2009… BMW Motorrad USA has announced the opening of eight new dealerships within the past five months to better serve BMW motorcycle customers in new and underserved markets.

“In 2010 and beyond we will continue to identify growth opportunities for the BMW brand in markets that do not currently have a BMW motorcycle dealership by partnering with new or existing motorcycle dealers in those areas,” commented Todd Andersen, BMW Motorrad USA Marketing Manager.

The newest authorized BMW dealerships include: Van-Wall Powersports in Perry, IA; BMW Motorcycles of Chattanooga in Chattanooga, Tenn.; Bergen County BMW Motorcycles in Rochelle Park, NJ; Montgomeryville Cycle Center in Hatfield, PA; BMW Motorcycles Tulsa in Tulsa, OK; BMW Motorcycles of Spokane/Westside Motorsports in Spokane, WA; BMW Motorcycles of Utah in Sandy, UT; and Kissell Motor Sports in State College, PA.

“Our dedicated dealer network was the key to our success last year,” added Mr. Andersen, citing the fact that BMW Motorrad USA outperformed the industry for the 2nd year in a row in 2009 despite an overall motorcycle industry decline of 41 percent. “Our dealers continued to serve our customers well thanks to new products like the K1300 GT, K 1300 S, and the new S 1000 RR Superbike, as well as attractive financing programs from BMW Financial Services.”[/B]

with the distance to get to a dealer getting pretty far here in illinois does anyone know of any good independant shop in the illinois that can do work for us now.

This thread appeared on the 6th over on ADV. One of the mechanics, Jason, is thinking of opening an independent shop. FYI

[url]http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=548431[/url]

Tom

[QUOTE=SIBUD;547486]Hmmm, hadn't seen any rumors floating around that I recall. :dunno[/QUOTE]

Sibud-seems like no one knew it was in the works.I talked to Charlie on Monday and he was as suprised as anyone.What i thought was bad was that they went in at 2:50 and told the employees that as of 3:00 they were closing.Like i said,now instead of 90miles to my dealer looks like i will have to double that.Ed

[QUOTE=rebake;548479]Sibud-seems like no one knew it was in the works.I talked to Charlie on Monday and he was as suprised as anyone.What i thought was bad was that they went in at 2:50 and told the employees that as of 3:00 they were closing.Like i said,now instead of 90miles to my dealer looks like i will have to double that.Ed[/QUOTE]

This demonstrates a certain management style. That management style has been known to cause businesses to fail many times. If in fact this is typical of this firm, their demise should not have been unexpected.

[QUOTE=rebake;548479]Sibud-seems like no one knew it was in the works.I talked to Charlie on Monday and he was as suprised as anyone.What i thought was bad was that they went in at 2:50 and told the employees that as of 3:00 they were closing.Like i said,now instead of 90miles to my dealer looks like i will have to double that.Ed[/QUOTE]

Yo Ed...you're always welcomed to stop by if'n your headed to Chi BMW.
If you do order from Chi BMW and you plan on picking the parts up,gimme a hollar before hand.
There's always the possibility I might be heading up there and could pick them up, saving you an additional 100 miles of travel..!

It wasn't the management style at Twin City BMW that closed their doors.

It's BMW NA's folly that their bikes have to be sold primarily through stand alone stores. Smaller communities do not have sufficient demand to make a stand alone BMW shop viable.

Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Triumph have no issues having their bikes sold next to each other. While BMW NA may believe their marketing approach makes the mark more exclusive it may also make it exctinct except in large urban markets.

[QUOTE=drh205;548840]

It's BMW NA's folly that their bikes have to be sold primarily through stand alone stores. Smaller communities do not have sufficient demand to make a stand alone BMW shop viable.
[/QUOTE]

Your are correct that primarily this is true, however in Canada stores generally feature several brands with BMWs as the flagship. I am so fortunate to live 5Km from a Dealer - and they also have several European and Japanese brands... no Harley's though - quite a different dynamic. ;)

The distance to my closest dealer (180mi) is the main reason I went looking for an airhead as my "next" bike. The hassles associated with needing to take a modern bike to a dealer for maintenance was the deciding factor between the airhead or a newer R-bike.

Tom

[QUOTE=rebake;548479].What i thought was bad was that they went in at 2:50 and told the employees that as of 3:00 they were closing.[/QUOTE]

A 10 minute notice is downright cruel.

[QUOTE=drh205;548840]It wasn't the management style at Twin City BMW that closed their doors.

It's BMW NA's folly that their bikes have to be sold primarily through stand alone stores. Smaller communities do not have sufficient demand to make a stand alone BMW shop viable.

Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Triumph have no issues having their bikes sold next to each other. While BMW NA may believe their marketing approach makes the mark more exclusive it may also make it exctinct except in large urban markets.[/QUOTE]

Absolutely true. Except, even BMW figured that out a few years back. If you look at the list of new dealers, Van Wall in Iowa for example, you will find at least three multi-brand new dealerships.