05-28-09 – 11:50 a.m. - In the second economic blow in as many months for a two-mile area in the towns of Chatham and Ghent, Rosetti Chevrolet announced last weekend that it will close.
While no formal closing date has been made public, a person with knowledge of the situation said the closing could come as early as next month when the lease for the building—which is still owned by the former owner of the dealership, when it called Oliver’s—expires.
Rosetti was reportedly unhappy with the existing lease agreement, and General Motors’ decision last week to end its franchise agreement with the Chatham dealership in October 2010 was the final nail in the coffin. |
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Sources said at least one truckload of vehicles has already been removed from the dealership, and a visit to the business on Tuesday found a severely diminished inventory of cars—with numerous pick-up trucks occupying most of the prime roadside space formerly used to showcase the popular Impala and Malibu models.
The move will leave nearly 20 area residents without employment, though Rosetti officials say they are trying to find them employment in owner Richard Rosetti’s other dealership, which is located in Saratoga. Just how many of the mechanics and sales and office staff would make the approximately 40-mile commute to Saratoga is not known.
Located on Route 295 in Chatham, Rosetti—and its predecessor, Oliver’s—has been a fixture in Chatham for 44 years and was the last of a long line of new car dealerships that once operated in Chatham and Ghent. Previous dealerships were located at the tip of Main Street in the village of Chatham and across from cemetery on Route 66 in Ghent.
Rosetti’s closing now leaves the town with no new car dealerships and further reduces the number of new car dealerships in the county, which has most recently seen the closing of Stan Martin Ford in Greenport.
Just last month, the owner of Chatco, a manufacturer of molded promotional products located in a section of the Village of Chatham that lies in the Town of Ghent, announced it would be ceasing operation and laying off more than two dozen employees.
Chatham Town Supervisor Jesse DeGroodt said on Monday that he was surprised and saddened by the news of yet another business closing up shop in town.
“This is an area that can ill afford this kind of loss,” said DeGroodt. “We are starting to accumulate empty buildings, and that’s not a good thing.”
The supervisor said he worked at Oliver’s when he was a teenager and recalled that many local residents turned to the dealership to make their vehicle purchases.
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