The Ranch Harley-Davidson moving locations, will add RV sales
Located in the college metropolitan community of College Station – home of Texas A&M – the owners of The Ranch Harley-Davidson knew they would need more space sooner than later if all went according to plan. They just didn’t know they would need it so soon.
“When we purchased The Ranch Harley-Davidson (previously Independence H-D) in August of 2016, we knew that we’d need a new home within at least five years, based on our projections. But we quickly found out that we needed more space well within our first year of business,” said general manager and owner Susan Gipson. “In 2017 and 2018 we officially began property hunting and nailing down our location. Which is conveniently right next door to our current location. To give you an idea of exactly how bad we need a larger building… our current facility is about 15,000 square-feet, and our new one will be 52,000. Currently, we hold our Riding Academy Course in the parking lot of our local mall 3 miles away; so another change will be adding our very own 15,000square-foot course onsite.”
The Gipson family will also own its new building, having previously been on a lease. And with the extra space and ownership comes another large announcement – the unveiling of The Ranch RV.
“The biggest benefit is more space, as every morning and evening the staff has to bring in and out at least 150 motorcycles. We’re excited about more space, more bathrooms, new amenities – everything,” said Gipson. “And we have some big news we haven’t shared publicly yet, but what perfect time – our new location will also be the home of our new business venture, The Ranch RV, where we will begin selling new & pre-owned RVs very soon.”
The dealership held a groundbreaking ceremony on Jan. 30 with live music and food for patrons in attendance – except there were burnouts in lieu of shovels.
“Our groundbreaking was amazing! We had lots of our customers that have watched us grow, our local government, and those from our community that don’t even ride join,” said Alex Gipson-Mills, marketing director. “We always take special advantage of any moment we get when non-riders attend our events – it’s the perfect time to spread awareness of the motorcycle world and it gives them an opportunity to see that we aren’t big, scary bikers. And because we like to be different, we didn’t use shovels to “break ground” – we used motorcycles and did burnouts instead!”
Heavily engrained in its surrounding community, the dealership also partnered with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center on Saturday, Feb. 20, to host a blood drive for its state that has been ravaged by the effects of a winter storm.
The expansion is quite the investment at a time when Harley is concentrating its dealership network as part of its Rewire and Hardwire strategy.
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