Harley-Davidson dealership owners are closing up shop as sales sag

After a COVID-era sales boom that led owners to undertake expensive showroom upgrades, years of falling sales and rising costs are pushing many dealerships to the brink.

There are few things more evocative of the free American spirit and the nation’s wide-open spaces than the image of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle zooming down a stretch of empty highway. But while taking one of the legendary hogs for a spin may still be liberating for riders, the company’s independent dealership owners are feeling an increasingly tight financial and business squeeze.