RV dealer closes

Northern California's largest RV dealer closed its Santa Rosa location Tuesday after just seven months in business, another victim of a slowing economy.

Dan Gamel RV Center, which has stores from Bakersfield to Redding, was losing money in Santa Rosa, CEO Dan Gamel said Tuesday.

"I don't have much of an appetite to operate in this climate and lose money," Gamel said. "We made money for a few months and then started losing money."

Sales remain strong at his core locations in Fresno, Modesto, Rocklin and Redding, he said. But the company also plans to close dealerships in Chico, Bakersfield and Yuma, Ariz., later this year, he said.

The Santa Rosa closure affected about 40 employees in sales, service, parts and other jobs. Some will be offered positions at the company's remaining RV centers, Gamel said.

The Fresno-based company had about $8 million in inventory at its 58,000-square-foot location on Todd Road in Santa Rosa. The motorhomes, travel trailers and other RVs will be distributed to Gamel's remaining dealerships, he said.

Gamel took over the Todd Road site from another RV dealer, Cal RV Supercenter. Cal RV closed its doors last April after two years in business.

RV sales have been hurt by the meltdown in the housing market, he said. Several years ago, younger buyers could borrow on their homes' equity to purchase RVs, but that market has disappeared, Gamel said.

Rising gas prices have had less impact because RV owners now take shorter trips, he said.

Gamel's Santa Rosa location also was hampered by the November bankruptcy of its motorhome supplier, National RV.

"When that happened, we didn't have a product line," Gamel said.

Dan Gamel RV is the nation's largest dealer of Fleetwood motorhomes, but Gamel cannot sell that line in Santa Rosa because the local Fleetwood franchise belongs to Hansel RV in Petaluma.

Gamel sold his RV empire in 2005 but rejoined the company two years later and soon realized it needed to be restructured, he said.

"We're going to operate the stores that make money," Gamel said.

Dan Gamel RV also has a fast-growing Internet sales arm, he said.

The RV business boomed after 2001, when U.S. consumers chose close-to-home vacations over air travel. His best year was 2004, when the company posted about $300 million in sales, Gamel said. Yearly sales are now closer to $130 million, he said.

Gamel's Santa Rosa dealership was a victim of bad timing, said Henry Hansel, who owns Hansel RV in Petaluma.

"They were the new kid in town in a marketplace that was contracting," he said.

Hansel owns the franchise for the two most popular RV brands, Winnebago and Fleetwood, leaving Gamel to sell second-tier brands at his Santa Rosa dealership.

"They had a hard way to go," Hansel said.

The RV business is highly cyclical, he said, predicting that RV sales should pick up in the future. Sales of used RVs are strong, an indication of pent-up demand, he said.

"It's a struggle for us right now, but we're staying the course," Hansel said.

You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com.