“Our current dealership opened in 1949 under the name of Shannon Buick,” Reichard said. “My dad (Gene) started washing cars here after high school when he was 16.”
Keeping it all in the family, Reichard said his father, 82 , is still president of the dealership and the younger Reichard has recently brought his two children, Rhett, 25 and Paige, 23 into the fold as full time employees.
After the elder Reichard worked his way up the ranks into service, sales and eventually in management, he was able to purchase the dealership from the Shannon brothers upon their retirement in 1985. Jeff Reichard had already begun working at the dealership as a full-time salesman at the time of the purchase.
“In 2005, we bought Rogers Pontiac,” Reichard said. “And in 2008, we bought Moorman Pontiac GMC.”
All the inventory from both dealers was moved to the Salem Avenue location. “We brought the franchises here,” Reichard said.
The new Chevrolet dealer will soon have a name change to “Reichard Chevrolet,” but retains its team of employees and the location in Brookville. “That dealership has been family operated for 70 years and we don’t plan to change that,” Reichard said. “The current employees have all done an excellent job of taking care of their customers for years and I want to continue that tradition.”
“It’s in a great spot right along Interstate 70 in Brookville,” Reichard said. “It has excellent growth potential and with both new and used cars I seem some great synergy marketing with both Buick GMC and Chevrolet. My plan is to substantially grow the business.”
Of the 65 employees at the dealership on Salem Avenue, Reichard said they all feel like family. “We are all very close and it’s great to watch my kids working together and getting along so great every day,” he said.
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