Harley-Davidson Dealers Across America Are Closing: Here’s Why – Jalopnik

In the US, Harley-Davidson dealers are closing their doors to customers. From San Francisco to Kewanee, Illinois, and to Titusville, Florida, long-running stores have gone out of business, with some stores not giving any reason for their closure. Others who did bother to provide an explanation blamed poor management, the deteriorating economy or the simple arithmetic of declining sales.

A century-old family business in San Francisco suddenly closed in 2024, just six years after the company was handed over to new management that failed to keep up with corporate standards. In Florida, a dealership disappeared without explanation. In New York City, a fan-favorite dealer went bankrupt under economic pressure after nearly thirty years in business. It gave away the products in offers of up to 75% discount during the last days of use.

The closures are the latest sign of how the brand’s footprint is shrinking. Even now that there are still more than 650 active dealers nationwide, the network is becoming thinner, especially in small markets. Dealers talk about shrinking margins and an increasingly top-down heavy corporate structure that makes independence difficult. Harley’s image now struggles with changing consumer habits and the rise of cheaper, tech-savvy alternatives like CFMoto’s motorcycles. The Motor Company may still be making more profits, but the community around those sales is quietly fading away.

Harley’s retail network is consolidating into fewer, larger operations, which could indicate the company is in deep trouble. George Gatto, chairman of the NPDA’s Harley-Davidson Dealer Council, says this is simply because dealers aren’t making money, as reported by Revzilla. This all started during COVID, when supply fell short of rising demand and dealers cashed in. Due to limited inventory, bicycles were sold at full price and discounts all but disappeared.

But soon the pandemic ended, interest rates skyrocketed and demand collapsed. Manufacturers expected the boom to continue and continued to push excess inventory to dealers, who then had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in “floor plan” interest.

Another thing that didn’t help was dealers investing in big buildings when sales were good. This has resulted in higher fixed costs, such as cooling, heating, maintenance, personnel and insurance, which now resurface when turnover is low. Declining retail sales, coupled with Harley’s extensive e-commerce platforms further gobbling up its customer base, resulted in many dealers throwing in the towel and closing shop.

Harley-Davidson reported a profit of $377 million in the third quarter of 2025, more than triple the same period a year earlier. But just behind that figure lies a disturbing pattern. The company’s global motorcycle sales fell 6%, while sales in North America fell 5%. What this means is that fewer units are sold and there may not be enough consumer demand for dealers to survive in the long run.

Harley-Davidson’s new CEO Artie Starrs – who took over in August 2025 – made this clear to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel when he attributed the improved figures to the company’s sale of its financial services business. This gave the company $1.25 billion in cash, which helped it reduce debt and buy back shares.

Still, Harley has struggled with unit sales lately, with shipments down 45% over the past decade. The Harley-Davidson Motor Company is profitable on paper, but its presence on America’s back roads — along with the showrooms that helped support it — continues to thin.