It's time to ride ... into sunset

CLOVIS - If you were ever inside High Plains Harley-Davidson in Clovis you could probably imagine it:

See the Old Chicago brick, then picture the bar that once stood in front of it. See the hardwood floor tucked away back near today's bike service entrance, then picture the dance floor it used to be when the Harley dealership was a bar called Boot Hill.

You now have less than a week to experience it again. High Plains Harley-Davidson Owner Jimmy Allison, after doing business in Clovis for 34 years, is closing the dealership's doors this Thursday. It's a result of both the long-term decline in Harley-Davidson sales and the short-term result of COVID-19.

More and more baby boomers, Harley's biggest fans, are getting too old to ride. And a deal to sell the High Plains shop and keep it open sputtered like an old cycle engine when the coronavirus hit.

And so an era for motorcycle sales in Curry County will draw to a close.

"We have to do it. We have to be closed up by the 30th of April," Allison, 67, said Thursday afternoon while up from his store in Roswell to visit the Clovis store on 4400 Mabry Drive.

Allison said if he stayed open in May, it would cost him $55,000. Not worth it for a store that is closing anyway, so it's time to go all too soon.

"Sad, because it's such a good service to the community," Joe Borem, the dealership's general manager since 2013, said Thursday. "We have a lot of people who ride, we have a lot of people who enjoy Harley-Davidsons, and it's just sad that we can't continue."

The economics of Harley-Davidsons in general had already made the closure a distinct possibility.

"We know that Harley's looking to close dealerships nationwide; they really want to lose about 150 dealers," Allison said. "Small dealers are not economically viable for them to keep open; they have a certain amount of costs to keep a dealership open, for stuff that they supply us with. So they're trying to consolidate their dealers. ... We didn't sell that many (motorcycles) last year, so we knew we were kind of on their radar."

Allison's contract with Harley-Davidson, like the contracts of all Harley dealers, was set to expire last Dec. 31. "And they gave us an automatic one-year extension, automatic to all dealers," Allison said.

Allison was sure that meant 2020 was going to be a year of change for Harley-Davidson, a year of downsizing. "So I had been troubled," he said, "because we weren't selling what we needed to, we weren't doing the volume that we needed to. Things really dropped off last year."

Another dealer Allison knew made him an offer for High Plains through a broker. "And quite honestly, the offer for the entire business was a little bit less than what the building's worth," Allison said.

But Allison was willing to make the deal if it would keep a tradition going and keep his staff employed. So an agreement was in place, lawyers were drawing up paperwork.

"And then the virus hit," Allison said, "and he bailed."

So, Allison then contacted Harley-Davidson to set in motion what he believed was his last remaining option.

"I said, 'Hey, let's talk about voluntary closure,'" Allison recalled.

By April 17 Allison had permission to close. He and his wife Crystal decided on April 19 to do it. The High Plains staff was informed on Tuesday.

Allison's store in Roswell will remain open, but even that one has struggled and been forced to cut staff.

"We're down to five or six (employees) down there out of 35," Allison said. "Just minimum crew trying to keep things open. It's not a good situation, I can tell you that."

Which is unfortunate for Allison, who has had two love stories in his life - the one with Crystal, his high school sweetheart and wife of 46 years, and his lifelong love of motorcycles.

Allison bought his first bike, a Honda, at age 14. He owned his first Harley-Davidson at 18, a 1951 Harley FL he bought in Capitan. His cousin's friend, an Air Force sergeant at the Holloman base in Alamogordo, co-signed for it.

"And he said, 'I hope you don't make the payments so I can repossess it. Because I want that bike,'" Allison remembered.

Allison worked for dealerships in Alamogordo from 1974 to 1980, and opened his Roswell dealership in October 1980. By 1986, Allison and a partner were ready to branch out with a dealership in Clovis. They opened at an old converted gas station on Thornton Street, on a site that is now Muffley's Funeral Home.

"That was the only building in town we could find in 1986," Allison said, "the only building that Harley would approve."

Allison and his business partner eventually dissolved their association, but Allison stayed on, finding his way to the Mabry Drive location in 2002.

The iconic Boot Hill - Tejano star Selena played there in 1994 - was long gone by then, succeeded by another bar called Wooley's.

And now that part of the love story is ending for Allison, his loyal customers and faithful employees.

"Everybody was like family," Borem said. "Whether you were a team member, or whether you were buying a bike, you were part of a family. ... It's a lot to miss."