“In the middle of a crisis lies opportunity.”
That quote hangs on the wall of Chris Haydocy’s office. The president of Haydocy Automotive Group in Columbus, Ohio, was already reeling from punches when the Great Recession hit: the shutdown of two General Motors franchised dealerships and the closure of a nearby auto parts plant that decimated the neighborhood. Then came the financial crisis, and the dealership nearly lost its financing.
The first priority for Haydocy wasn’t a short-term slashing of costs or employees from his operations. Instead, he addressed the deeper issues confronting his neighborhood.
Haydocy: “Unconventional” grassroots effort
Adding, losing brands
After starting in 1954 as a Pontiac dealership, over the years the group acquired GMC, Buick, GMC medium-duty truck and Oldsmobile franchises. The group opened a new building for Oldsmobile — keeping the other brands in a second building — just one month before GM terminated the Oldsmobile brand.
The group was able to recover from that loss. But when Pontiac was axed, its sales tumbled over just a few years to 29 new units a month from 100 previously. Pontiac had accounted for more than 60 percent of the group’s revenue.
“It came as a shock to many about Pontiac’s” elimination, Haydocy said. “On a national stage, General Motors did what they saw best to keep the company running.”
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To Haydocy, giving up wasn’t an option. “We did not have the opportunity to go bankrupt and reorganize,” he said. Instead, he saw the opportunity, and need, to revitalize.
Chris Haydocy
- Title then: Dealer principal
- Dealership group: Haydocy Automotive Group
- Where: Columbus, Ohio
- Survival strategy: Revitalizing a decaying neighborhood
The vacant neighborhood surrounding the dealership posed a unique challenge. The recent closure of a Delphi Corp. auto parts plant on property directly behind the dealership hit hard, as did the closure of other nearby industrial properties and Westland Mall. The industrial area had few small businesses.
In 2009, an Associated Press analysis found nearly 70 percent of the homes and apartments near Haydocy’s buildings were vacant. It labeled the area “America’s Loneliest Neighborhood.”
“Business after business shut down, and it became a very, very challenged neighborhood,” Haydocy recalled. “There was absolutely no outside investment coming in this area.”
To change the neighborhood and work to boost local sales, Haydocy started a grassroots organization called Weston Vision Inc. to attract new investment along the West Broad Street corridor. The organization ultimately attracted a $400 million casino to the former Delphi property, which has since spurred the development of more than 40 businesses in the neighborhood.
“This area would be a ghost town” if Penn National Gaming Inc. had not opened Hollywood Casino Columbus, Haydocy said.
“It was an opportunity to revitalize the neighborhood through an unconventional manner,” Haydocy added. “The alternative to not finding out these opportunities would have been bankruptcy.”
In addition, Haydocy opened Haydocy Airstream and RV in the former Oldsmobile building, which has since been a steady part of his business.
Financing
The dealership’s property loan renewal with GMAC was initially turned down because the financing company did not see a way forward, despite the dealer never missing a payment in 60 years. Haydocy reached out to his congresswoman, who vouched for the dealership as a crucial cornerstone to the neighborhood. Eventually, Haydocy had his loan extended.
“The experience I had is something I never want to go through again,” Haydocy said. “We had to put perfectly the thread through the needle to survive.”
In 2009, the Haydocy Group sold 457 new and 492 used vehicles. Last year, the group sold 545 new and 602 used vehicles, Haydocy said, along with 331 new and 107 used recreation vehicles. Despite these increases in sales, Haydocy still sees lingering effects of the recession today.
“We have never gotten back to the level that we were before,” Haydocy said. “Our trials and tribulations were very much so reflected and similar to the total trials and tribulations of the total neighborhood.”
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