REXBURG — A local automotive dealership is celebrating half a century in Madison County.
Erickson GMC was founded 50 years ago by Rex Erickson after he left a job with Pontiac Motor Division. Rex’s son, Neil Erickson, said his dad purchased the dealership in 1967 on Dec. 1 at noon.
“The keys were handed to him, and he was in business,” Neil Erickson said.
Back then Erickson GMC wasn’t located next to the highway. It was run out of the dealership at West Fourth South and South Third West.
A few years later Erickson GMC moved down West Fourth South to where Tuscany Place Apartments are currently located. For almost 30 years Erickson GMC sold vehicles and completed repairs as a neighbor to then-Ricks College.
In 2001 things changed. Neil Erickson said plans for expansion at the dealership were being stifled by the growth of apartment complexes in the area.
“When BYU-Idaho announced it was going to a four-year school, our search for expansion would only get worse,” he said.
Erickson GMC then relocated to their current place near the Highway 20 on-ramp on Main Street. Neil Erickson said at every location the people of Rexburg have been there for the dealership.
“The community makes us who we are,” said Neil Erickson. “That’s who supports us over the years. We’ve been loyal to the community, and the community has been loyal to us.”
Neil Erickson said the dealership has had its fair share of hurdles over the years, but all of them have been overcome thanks to two main factors.
“We’re a family business,” he said. “We’ve been able to work well together as a family and respect each other over the years and stay close.”
He said along with family, being able to change with the times is critical to any business’s success.
“Business is constantly changing,” he said. “Being able to adapt and change, being able to look at the positive instead of the negative, is what has helped keep us going.”
When asked about how the next 50 years looked, Neil Erickson laughed.
“I’d be 100 years old by then,” he said. “It’s hard to look that far down the road. You look for opportunities for the next generation and leave the business as well as it was when you took it over, and even better in some cases. There’s a really smart generation coming up that’ll take it to a whole new level.”
Neil Erickson was also asked about any future expansion of the dealership.
“Not at this time,” he replied. “There are some things we’d like to do, but timing is everything. There will probably be more expansion, but we’re perfectly content doing what we’re doing and doing it the best we possibly can.
“We want to thank the community and all the people we’ve done business with over the years. We want to continue those relationships and the great opportunity it is to live in Rexburg and be a part of this community.”
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