EDITOR'S NOTE: We first reported the story below back in 2017. There has been some confusion as to whether the car dealer is closed. It is not. Nissan of Streetsboro is open under new ownership and has been for more than a year, according to its owner.
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Customers are concerned after two large car dealerships abruptly closed up shop, leaving more than 100 employees without a paycheck and car owners scrambling to figure out what is next.
Employees at both Nissan of Streetsboro and Airport Nissan in Cleveland were told Monday they were losing their jobs.
As of Friday night, both of those dealerships sat idle, with inventory still on the lot and in the showrooms.
News 5 watched more than a dozen people pull up to the dealership on Brook Park Road Friday, looking unsure what to do when they realized the doors were locked.
A sign on the door alerted them that the Nissan dealerships have ceased operations.
Customers for both of the dealerships knew something was up when they tried calling the dealerships to make an appointment for service.
"The mailboxes were full, couldn't get through," said customer Dan Bjork.
So Bjork tried to make his appointment online. The problem was, no date appointments were available.
That's when he decided to drive to Nissan of Streetsboro to find out what was going on.
Driving by, it looks like business as usual, with a healthy stock of inventory on the lots. But none of the cars have moved since Monday.
"I walked up to the door and there was a sign saying, 'until further notice, we're closed,'" said customer Hilaria Wilson.
News 5 has learned the dealerships have had three different owners in just a year and a half.
The previous owner, who sold it to a group of investors out of Florida, said it just wasn't a good fit for him financially.
The current owner, Automax LLC, shuttered the dealerships just six months after buying them.
News 5 tried multiple times Friday to reach Automax and its parent company Aviate Capital but no one cooperated.
Nissan sent the following statement to News 5:
Nissan has been made aware of Nissan of Streetsboro and Airport Nissan being closed for business. We are continuing to investigate this matter. We encourage Nissan customers in the area needing service to visit Nissanusa.com to locate the closest dealership. You may also contact Nissan Consumer Affairs by calling 1-800-NISSAN-1, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT. We apologize for any inconvenience to our customers
The Ohio Attorney General's Office said customers who may have unresolved issues with the dealerships should contact them.
Since 2005, the attorney general's consumer protection unit has received 70 complaints about Airport Nissan and Nissan of Streetsboro.
A spokesperson told News 5 that is a higher than normal amount.
