Lazy Days RV in Tampa

[des1954]

Well,,,, I knew it was just a matter of time before Lazy Days cried "Uncle" in this economy. They filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 5th. 1/3 of their workforce has been laid off. Sad. Just sad.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Man,,sure hate to hear that,,,,every little bit hurts all of us.

 

[DaveInTN]

Yeah, I sure hope they come out of their reorganization successfully and get the financing situation squared away. I've never been, but my parents bought a coach from them and had a good experience. They have a lot of new inventory coming in per their website, so they must have secured financing to get them through this.

I fear that if (when) this economy takes another turn for the worse, those in the industry that survived the initial meltdown might not be able to get through the next one. Very sad.

 

[LuckyinGa]

We spent two days at Lazy Days (12/28 & 12/29) after our Fort Trip in December. We purchased our motor home there two years ago and we were having it serviced and detailed.

Our salesman explained what Lazy Days was doing as this: Lazy Days was a public company that had bond holders and the bond holders would have to be paid their year end bonuses. Instead, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, reorganized and brought in all of the bond holders as partners of the company, made the company privately held and all the bonus money was reinvested in the company.

Lazy Days spent $3,000.000.00 in December alone buying up previously owned inventory. Also, Lazy Days will be the only RV dealership carrying American made coaches for the first 4 months of 2010 as they bought up all of the inventory at the Fleetwood factory before they closed and moved the American line to Indiana.

They did lay off service and sales people in their 2nd quarter last year but have begun calling them back. With the RV companies that have gone under it has left them with fewer brands to choose from and we did notice that they increased their inventory in toy haulers, trailers and they are even selling smart (stupid) cars! (Sorry I couldn't resist)

Every service bay was full, there were people shopping (approximately 300 units had been sold in December) and the place was buzzing. They were gearing up for their busiest month for sales and service which is January.

They run a first class operation over there and I'm sure they will be fine. They have a great reputation for service and we would definitely buy from them again and not hesitate to refer someone to them.

 

[des1954]

Joanne -

I'm so glad to hear what you had to say. An acquaintance of ours has been with L.D. for roughly 20 years and before Christmas sent my DH an e-mail stating he's been hanging on by his fingernails. He's always been in the top 5% of the sales staff - but has had very few sales since the beginning of 2008. He's done better than a lot of salespeople - but very poorly by his standards since the RV industry started tanking.

Yesterday, a possible sink-hole opened up on I-4 eastbound just before the L.D. exit. Right across from Bates RV. That could really hurt L.D., Longview RV & Bates RV if they have to close the highway down.

 

[LORNADUCK]

I heard on the radio that it is in the east bound lane and only 1 lane is opened by Branch Forbes Road going east. Hope it doesn't effect the super show's traffic