Crocker's Marine Closing?

Capt. Ed

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
113
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
Wilmington, NC
I've heard rumors, Crocker Marine in Wilmington, NC has or will close it's doors? What a shame if it's true. A great Grady dealer that's an institution in the area! Wonder who and where GW will sign up a new dealer?
 

Parthery

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
2,587
Reaction score
220
Points
63
Location
Atlanta, GA
They closed their store in Georgetown SC....I would be shocked if they closed either Morehead or Crockers.
 

Motivator

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2005
Messages
169
Reaction score
6
Points
18
Crocker's Marine

Rumor is true, end of the month doors will be closed.
Extremely sad day for this GW owner. I can only hope GW does their due diligence in the selection of their next dealer for our area. Crocker's is/was top shelf when it came to customer service. They have a lot of quality people there, from Newland on down. I can only hope that everyone associated with Crocker's lands on their feet.
 

GWcpa

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
484
Reaction score
2
Points
18
Location
Richmond, Northern neck VA
Wow, that's sad. They seem like good people to me, but this is a tough market to survive. Had a fair amount of non-current inventory though.


Are all of them closing? Things must be bad when the dealer in Grady's back yard is closing down.

Anybody know what the debt load of GW looks like?
 

megabytes

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
2,005
Reaction score
2
Points
36
Location
Cary/Wrightsville Beach, NC
Both the WB and the MC locations are closing. It is unclear if the business and name will be sold or a completely new dealer will emerge.

With Pages Creek no longer selling new boats WB sill soon have a very large void, leaving MarineMax as the only really high end boat dealer.

Very tough economy indeed. :(
 

wrobinson

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
142
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
Charleston, SC
That's a shame, those guys were top notch every time a dealt with them. They had the perfect set up for the bigger boats. The experts say the economy is in a recovery. Apparently they are not boaters.
 

ocnslr

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
1,907
Reaction score
43
Points
48
Location
Fort Myers Beach, FL
Model
Islander
Got confirmation from our TGWC sponsor, Norfolk Marine, about Crocker's closing all locations on 31 Oct.

Norfolk Marine purchased five new GWs and four new Parkers from Crockers.

Hard news all around.

Brian
 

JOSH S

Active Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
41
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Morehead marine's last day is the 29th.
 

megabytes

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
2,005
Reaction score
2
Points
36
Location
Cary/Wrightsville Beach, NC
Crocker's last day is also the 29th.
Not sure if there will be an inventory sale or it will be sold to another dealer as a lot.

FTR: Crockers was as solvent as most other dealers. While the economy is tough and sales of everything aside from firearms is down, the primary reason for the closing of Crockers is a decision by the owner(s).

Without detailed inside knowledge, I believe Crockers was in no worse shape than any other US dealer. Since they owned the land and some facilities they were probably in better shape than many dealers.

I have known about this for awhile but did not want to make it public out of respect for the employees, many of which I've enjoyed a great working relationship over the years.

It is a sad time for Wrightsville Beach, GW, and the NC boating industry. Crockers was an institution and one of the most honored GW dealers.

They will be missed.
 

GYP-SEA

Active Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2009
Messages
31
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Greensboro-Wilmington NC
That stinks, I purchased 2 of my last 3 Grady's from them and there service dept was great. It was a guy store. Wait till we see the prices at West Marine go up AGAIN. :(
 

Motivator

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2005
Messages
169
Reaction score
6
Points
18
Parts at Crocker's 40% off right now, cleaning supplies are at 60% off. Not much left, but a great opportunity to pick up GW parts.
 

HuskerBoater

Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2008
Messages
22
Reaction score
0
Points
0
A very sad day for SE North Carolina and for GW in general. I would consider Crockers among the top boat dealers, period. Nothing but a top flight organization as far as I could ever tell. Very very sad.
 

Scouter

Active Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2008
Messages
28
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Central Maine
Richard Pratt at Crockers is one of the good guys, a real straight shooter. Hope he lands on his feet, wish I had a job for him working for me.

Jim
 

Fishermanbb

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
Messages
466
Reaction score
55
Points
28
Location
Long Island, NY
Inside word is it has nothing to do with the economy. Apparently after Kay passed away the son's heart just wasn't in it anymore and he decided to get out of the business.
 

fastal

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
Messages
74
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Newburyport, Ma.
that really is too bad. I live up here in the northeast and bought all my parts from them. not only did they have the best price but they always knew what part I was looking for (and I have a 92 sailfish) and got it to me fast.
 

Heavy Duty

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2007
Messages
116
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Currituck County, NC
Dang,

I hate to hear this :( . I just bought my boat this past March from them.

They did me right on the deal. T. Harris never once pressured me at any time during the deal and was up front during the entire process. Even though it is a 4.5 hour haul to Morehead City, I had already made my mind up to haul the boat to them at the end of every season for the annual maintenance and upgrades. Now I will have to shop around and look for someone I can trust. If you read this “T”, thanks and best of luck.


Len
 

megabytes

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
2,005
Reaction score
2
Points
36
Location
Cary/Wrightsville Beach, NC
>>> Inside word is it has nothing to do with the economy. Apparently after Kay passed away the son's heart just wasn't in it anymore and he decided to get out of the business.

That is my understanding as well although it is fair to say the economy was at least a factor.
 

BobP

GreatGrady Captain
Joined
Apr 27, 2005
Messages
4,746
Reaction score
6
Points
38
Location
Long Island, NY
Model
Sailfish
Although I'm not in the business, if I wanted to sell boats, there are only two brands I would sell, Grady's and Parkers, seems to me that makes an existing established fully functioning dealership of big value when the FOR SALE sign goes up.

Doesn't it? i.e., is there no one interested in selling Gradys for a living ?