What's Up With Harley? Two Stores Unexpectedly Close, Community in Uproar Hot

Two New Jersey Harley-Davidson showrooms closed unexpectedly this week, leaving customers in a lurch. Les Hovern, a loyal customer who had ordered leather pants from the Millville Harley location, was told he could pick them up on Monday. When he showed up, the store was closed, the doors were locked and the showroom was empty. "This is totally unreal," Hovern said. "I've been coming here for 10 years. I talked to a woman named Debbie, she told me to stop in Monday."

Apparently, the second-generation owner of the store, Sam Macrine, had contacted the town's officials about getting more traffic to the area. At the time, they contacted us first and said they were being required to go to a more heavily trafficked location," said Don Ayres, Millville Economic Development Director. "We worked with them to get them to locate to another site in Millville, and for whatever reason we were unable to find an acceptable location."

Especially troubling is the fact that the store had been open for 35 years. Another Harley-Davidson store, owned by Macrine and located in Wildwood, also unexpectedly closed its doors on Monday. The dealerships sponsored the Wildwood Spring Rally, which draws around 5,000 people to the town each spring, as well as the Roar to the Shore, which draws around 125,000 people to the town for four days in September.

Calls to Harley-Davidson, as well as to the Macrine, were not returned earlier this week.