The Historic Harley-Davidson dealership has shut its doors after 77 years.
I don’t care if you bleed Indian Motorcycles; when a dealership that has been in business for not far off 100 years goes out of business, it’s a sad day for the motorcycle industry. Unfortunately, today is one of those days.
According to recent reports, Steve Towers, CEO of a network of Harley-Davidson dealerships across the Midwest and Southeast U.S., has closed Historic Harley-Davidson in Topeka, Kansas, which had been open for 77 years.
Towers has only been the custodian of the historic dealership since February 2025, when he bought it from its former owner, Mike Patterson. The Topeka dealership was established by Patterson’s grandfather in 1949 and had been owned and run by the family for four generations until Towers purchased it.
Towers issued a press release stating
Towers issued a press release stating that the dealership had officially shut down on October 28. Towers wrote, “Closing a dealership is never a decision we take lightly. However, as an organization, we must continually evaluate our operations and make strategic decisions that position our company for long-term success.
The closure of Historic Harley-Davidson is a deliberate business decision that allows us to better allocate our rewhere we see the greatest potential for growth.”
This isn’t a huge surprise, as Towers has a history of buying established businesses and making commercial decisions about which ones are worth keeping. He previously developed the third-largest Midas franchise in the US and built a network of Big O Tires stores.
When Towers bought the dealership last year,
When Towers bought the dealership last year, the original plan was to move Historic Harley-Davidson to a different location within 12 months of the transaction; however, that wasn’t to be.
What do you think?
Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated incident, as Historic Harley-Davidson is just the latest in a string of Harley dealerships to go under.
Towers has since said that closing Historic Harley-Davidson doesn’t reflect the financial stability of his other stores in the network, which are located in Nebraska, North Carolina, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Iowa.
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