UPDATE 4:30 p.m.:

After this post was published, a former employee of Redwood Harley-Davidson reached out to say he and several of his former coworkers were also taken by surprise by the dealership’s sudden closure.

“When we showed up to work [on July 25] they had doors locked, employees from other stores packing up and final paychecks in hand,” said the worker, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid professional repercussions. “The GM went around and hand-picked the people he liked to bring them to Redding while not notifying any other employees they were shutting down.”

In a phone interview he said five or six of the dealership’s employees were left suddenly unemployed when the dealership closed its doors last week. While he didn’t know for sure the closure was coming, he did have some hints.

“Approximately a month, a month and a half ago things started getting a little weird around the shop,” he said. 

Weird how?

“Just energy-wise,” he said. “You can tell when things are getting to where people are telling secrets.” 

Redwood Harley-Davidson was owned by Vacaville-based Wise Auto Group, which operates more than 20 dealerships across California, Arizona and Nevada. 

We called the Vacaville dealership and got referred to a dealership in Reno, where the woman who answered the phone offered an explanation, of sorts. 

“Basically they’re moving everything to another Harley-Davidson,” she said regarding the sudden shutdown. “They didn’t want a lot of Harley-Davidson’s nearby the same location.” 

Shasta Harley-Davidson, which is roughly three hours east on State Route 299, opened its doors on July 26, the day after Redwood Harley-Davidson closed its doors, bringing a sudden end to roughly 24 years in business.

When asked about the suddenness of the closure and the lack of advanced notice to customers and employees, the woman in Reno, who did not offer her name, said, “Are you trying to make a story out of this?”

Informed that it’s already a story, she passed us to a man named Mac, who said we’d need to speak with a district manager named Matt Ensour, who was in the Redding store. However, when we called there we were told that he’d left for the day.

“Not even the district told us [the closure was coming],” the former employee of Redwood Harley-Davidson said. “Not one single employee from Wise [Auto Group] or our other Harley group or our sister stores told us.”

When he did finally find out, the story didn’t make sense to him.

“They tried to tell me it was Harley’s decision to close, but that doesn’t make sense because they delivered us brand new motorcycles three days before closing,” he said. “We had a full stockroom, and they were making us schedule customers for upgrades. They had us bring bikes in [for service] up to the day before closing.”

He has since moved out of the area in search of another job and said some of his former coworkers had to do the same, he said.

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Original post:

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After more than two decades in business at the north end of Eureka, Redwood Harley-Davidson closed its doors last week, leaving behind some frustrated customers and a message taped to its windows and posted to social media saying they’re moving to Redding.

“Redwood HD family, you’ve been an integral part of our journey, and we cherish every moment,” the message says. “Can’t wait to see you in Redding, where the adventure continues!”

Commenters expressed surprise, with one saying, “150 miles [away]? Really?”

One customer, Mike M. told the Outpost via email that he’s had warranty parts on order since March.

“When I would check they would tell me the parts were on back-order [and] to check back with them the end of July. I did, only to find out they closed,” he wrote.

Mike asked us not to use his last name since he expects to travel to Redding for service and doesn’t want to foul the relationship further. 

The business’s website is no longer online, leaving a message that says, “This site is no longer available,” but a cached version of the website, accessed via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, shows that the site was functioning as recently as July 20, with a banner telling customers, “Immediate Pre-Ordering Available Now!”

The phone number listed online also doesn’t function, though we managed to reach the Redding dealership via a number posted to Facebook. 

Sales Manager Marcus Noy said he’s not too sure why the Eureka dealership closed. “I believe it’s a motor company decision,” he ventured, adding that we should call back on Wednesday to speak with the general manager. 

Mike M. Said he’s also had a hard time getting answers.

“I can’t be the only one that they left holding the bag,” he said. “Redding, that’s a long way away. I would not have bought a bike if I knew I’d have to go three and a half hours to service it.”

Mike purchased his Harley two years ago, along with the extended service warranty.

While he’s frustrated, he said he can’t really blame the owners or the salespeople for not telling him at the time that they’d be closed in two years.

“Obviously they probably didn’t have that on their horizon either,” he said.

Shasta Harley-Davidson in Redding can be reached at 522-241-7117.