Longtime Chevy dealership closes its doors

For more than a century, Holton-area owners of Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and other vehicles in the General Motors family could buy their vehicles and have them serviced south of Holton’s Town Square, first at Haubold Chevrolet, then at Clark Chevrolet and most recently at Doug Richert Chevrolet-Buick.

But last Wednesday, April 1, a sign on the door of the Richert dealership at 306 New York Ave. in Holton alerted customers to the closure of Holton’s Chevrolet dealership and service mainstay and apologized for “any inconvenience” for having shut down.

Casey Huskey, who served as the Richert dealership’s general manager for the past three years, issued an internet statement last Wednesday afternoon announcing the dealership’s closure and thanking owner Doug Richert for “the opportunity” to work there but not giving a reason for the shutdown.

No “official” reasons have been given for the dealership’s closure, and the dealership’s telephone number and Web site are no longer in service as of this week. A spokesperson for the Kansas Automobile Dealers Association said Tuesday that no information about the dealership’s closure had been received by the association.

More than a century ago, in 1925, A.B. “Slim” Haubold moved to Holton and took over the town’s Chevrolet dealership, which was renamed Haubold-Burnett in 1935. At that time, the dealership’s shop was located across New York Avenue from its current location.

Some time later, the dealership became known again as Haubold Chevrolet, and in 1949, the building that currently houses the dealership was built. That same year, Haubold’s nephew, Homer Clark, moved with his family to Holton and went to work at the dealership, taking it over in 1962.

To read the rest of the article, please subscribe to The Holton Recorder.