In better economic times, the latest business news was usually relegated to the tenth page of the third section in your local newspaper. Today, the unfortunate news related to businesses across our country is making front page headlines on a daily basis. As I have reported on this blog before, Texas (in particular Austin, Houston and San Antonio) has been faring well economically in comparison with most other states in the nation. But, make no mistake about it … there is no area in this country that is not hurting from our current recession. There are not many of us who cannot name a family member, friend, or at least acquaintance who has recently found himself or herself without a job. Near Houston, another large business has just announced that it is closing. Lawrence Marshall car dealership in Hempstead, TX shut its doors today.
The dealership had been in operation since 1969. While many brands were sold on the forty-acre complex, the company was one of the nation’s largest dealers of Chevrolet trucks. Until the economic downturn took hold, Lawrence Marshall sold more than 9000 cars and trucks a year and employed around 240 people. Most of the employees discovered that their jobs no longer existed just earlier today. As Ted Teague, general manager of Lawrence Marshall’s Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep store, said, “It’s the economy we’re in right now. We were built for high volume and you can’t sell enough cars today. It’s sad that this had to happen.”
The closure of Lawrence Marshall is undoubtedly going to have a major impact on the Hempstead community. With General Motors and Chrysler receiving billions in federal bailout money and Ford reporting a recent 40% drop in sales, the same fate of Marshall is going to be felt repeatedly by other dealerships across Texas and the nation. If you are a business owner in Houston Austin and/or San Antonio and you need some assistance in keeping your company afloat, the Houston Austin and San Antonio business attorneys at Bertolino LLP can help. Please contact our business lawyers in Austin, Houston, or San Antonio office today and let’s see what we can do.
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