Car dealerships are a more volatile business than most would think. Other than the 2 large big name dealers (who were a pseudo-chain based out of Dallas) in the city where I grew up, most dealerships changed names and marques at least every 5 years. Some of them switched from Chevrolet and Dodge to Subaru and to Mitsubishi. A few of them got into big problems with their taxes (Joe Elmore) and another got busted washing titles and dodging state sales tax (Sloan Brothers Buick) and ended up getting forced out of business. Even more were merged with others to be a super dealer conglomerate - the Sewell family owns over a dozen and has been in business 100 years.
All things that if you didn't grow up or live in the area before the internet the chances of you knowing are slim to none. Back then dealerships tended to be family owned and were sold off if the person who owned got sick or wanted to retire, causing name changes. Then when you look at GM's new dealership building requirements and mandatory inventory holdings, a lot of the older non-superstore dealers went under or sold out.
Progress, you just can't stop it.
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