Quinn dealership open only to voters
By TOM GIAMBRONI
Staff Writer
LISBON - Quinn Chevrolet-Buick apparently closed Friday, leaving officials at the Columbiana County Board of Elections scrambling to keep the dealership open as a polling place for yesterday's election.
Elections board Director Kim Meek learned late last week that owner Rick Quinn advised Lisbon Fiscal Officer Tracey Wonner his dealership's last day in business would be Oct. 30.
Wonner, who is the contact person for polling places in Lisbon, said Quinn called Friday to say he was closing at the end of the day and would not be open on election day.
Wonner notified Meek, who obviously was concerned since the dealership is one of the polling places in Lisbon.
Meek said they contacted Quinn immediately and convinced him to give them the key to the dealership so it could be used as a polling place.
"He didn't have to give us the key, but thank God he did," Meek said, adding it would have been nearly impossible to find a new polling place on such short notice and then advise the hundreds of voters in the precinct of the change.
When asked Friday by the Morning Journal whether the dealership was closing, Quinn replied "eventually."
Quinn purchased the tiny dealership in the early 2000s, and by 2005 it was one of the leading dealerships in the county. In August 2006, Quinn Chevrolet was stripped of its entire inventory of 159 vehicles by the financing arm of General Motors, which claimed the dealership violated its master agreement by failing to pay the automaker what it owed on four sold vehicles.
Quinn said the problem occurred when he lost the dealership the month before in a divorce. Quinn eventually reached a settlement with GM, and dozens of local residents and community leaders volunteered to drive the vehicles back to the dealership.
But in February 2007, GM returned to confiscate the dealership's vehicles a second time after Quinn failed to provide a financing plan required in the agreement that resulted in the return of the vehicles seized six months before.
The dealership appeared never to have fully recovered from these blows, and then came the recession, followed by GM's decision to close 1,100 dealerships nationwide in May 2009. The dealership never confirmed if it was on the list, but by summer Quinn Chevrolet appeared to be selling used vehicles only.
"I feel bad for Rick and his employees," said Ryan Hillman, who is president of the Lisbon Area Chamber of Commerce and co-owner of The Steel Trolley Diner, located across the street from Quinn Chevrolet.
"It's a shame when any business goes out, let alone one as prominent as his."
Hillman estimated that at its height Quinn's employed 20 to 25 employees. There were probably about six by the time it closed. Equally important is the fact Lisbon is now without a licensed dealership.
"Having that Chevy dealership in Lisbon is important to Lisbon ... and I hope we can get that filled because we need that for Lisbon," he said.
In the Oct. 24 edition of the Showcase of Homes, Quinn Chevrolet was listed for sale for $350,000 by Gallagher Realty.
