R N Johnson, Walpole, NH Losing John Deere

   / R N Johnson, Walpole, NH Losing John Deere #2  
Thats too bad. I bought my tractor there, and my grandfather bought two tractors from RN. They had a massive lot of John Deere's, and they published a paper a few years ago about their next 25 years of selling Deere's. They were the 4th oldest JD dealer in the world. It will be interesting to see what they pick up for a new line. They originally sold my 30 year old Bolens Diesel new, and I was the second owner when they resold it from a return customer 30 years later. We lost a large tractor dealer in Keene two years ago, and we just lost a Cub Cadet dealer in my town when they were taken over by Yanmar within the last few months. We still have a Branson Tractor Dealer in town, and a Mccormick Dealer in Winchester NH, a Kubota Dealer in Walpole, and a Kioti Dealer in Lebanon, but beyond that, I am not sure what they may carry? I feel bad for the employees who lost their jobs, and I can't believe that JD came and took their entire inventory today. That must have been at least a hundred tractors, and they sold 10 millions dollars worth of tractors a year. Anyways, sad to hear that they lost the line. They have also been selling and servicing 2 cylinder JD tractors since 1929, and they have thousands of parts on hand. They will still have their museum open.

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   / R N Johnson, Walpole, NH Losing John Deere #3  
I don't know if this has been posted yet, but the local newspaper has this.......Why..??

John Deere pulls dealership from Walpole company after 84 years | New Hampshire NEWS02

Speaking with a Former J-D dealer on the Vermont-New York border where I purchased a rear blade this fall , J-D is pressuring dealers to "combine, grow, and go mega (read big debt). Comply or you are out!

Ag is big business, It's not just "Simple Green" any more.

I hope R-N stays around. I count on them.

Cheers

Cal
 
   / R N Johnson, Walpole, NH Losing John Deere #4  
I think my dealer was told the same thing a few years ago. They had a family run dealership for years before merging with five other small or family run operators in ky. They now have a total of seven dealerships in northern and central ky.
 
   / R N Johnson, Walpole, NH Losing John Deere #5  
I saw that article too. While I never used them, I did have the former Keats in Keene have hydraulic fitting work done and bought a Salsco PTO chipper from them.

Another one down from the makers...
 
   / R N Johnson, Walpole, NH Losing John Deere #6  
Deere seems to be forcing its dealers to be part of well funded chain operations. In Colorado, Colorado Equipment has most of the dealers east of I-25 to the Kansas border; while another chain has most of the dealers west of I-25 to the Utah border. I keep expecting my local Deere dealer to be assimilated by Colorado Equipment.
 
   / R N Johnson, Walpole, NH Losing John Deere #7  
Thats a kick in the pants. :(
Purchase lots of goodies etc.over the years,always great service.

Wonder if up grading to mall like store also play a part.
 
   / R N Johnson, Walpole, NH Losing John Deere #8  
Hard to really tell by the article what really happened but the dealer agreement is substantial and just about anything could have heppened. Deere has not been telling dealers to get more stores or quit for just a few years, more like a decade or so they have been pushing this. It is not just Deere that forces some of these things, I have seen dealer groups crowd others and simply force the sale or closure. Losing the contract tells me it was more than just not wanting to buy more stores, if they had appropriate market share, etc, etc, from the dealer agreement then they probably could have sold the contract, but still up the mfg to whom and possibly for how much. 10mil of sales may seem like a lot but doesnt mean squat w/out knowing what their market potentail was. If the market for their aor puchased 50mil and they only captured 10 then it wasn't doing what it should have been doing in the mfg's eyes even if the dealer was profitable. This is all posturing and opinion from my part though, the public will probably never know the real reason.
 
   / R N Johnson, Walpole, NH Losing John Deere #9  
I should also add that as we get more and more into the satelitte controlled world Deere (and many other ag mfg's) are requiring a tremendous amount of work and $ to be put into these dealerships to get up to speed with current technologies and the investment is huge. In many cases requiring an an addition of a whole new department that handles just those portions of machinery control. Just another side thought on a potential reason, I hope no-one thinks I am bashing this dealer, I am not familer with them. And I certainly would not put it past any worldwide corporation like Deere, Agco, etc to use their weight to push around the little guy. It's unfortunate but if the market potential us TRULY there then someone else will come in.
 
   / R N Johnson, Walpole, NH Losing John Deere
  • Thread Starter
#10  
IIRC, there was some scuttlebutt on the news about car dealers being forced to remodel their showrooms and facilities during hard times.......I often wonder if John Deere and other tractor mfgrs are pushing the same train to force these small dealers to become megastores.....:confused3:

It's too bad about RN Johnson cuz I've dealt with them before and they were always quite knowledgable and friendly with thier business dealings with me.....Hoping for the best for them, it just seems to be a slap in the face to small family businesses.......:2cents:
 
 
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