Mathews Used Cars will close its doors next week after 60 years in business.
The dealership’s property and building have been sold, but owner Rick Skoglund will continue to to sell its current inventory. Mike and Mari Robb, the new owners, plan to turn the property into a BlueSky Tire and Auto Service shop.
Skoglund said he hopes to sell most of the cars by next week, but will move the remaining ones to the parking lot of Lexington Auto Parts, where he will continue selling and taking payments on vehicles.
“We’re slashing all the prices down,” he said. “Some of them as much as 50% or more. Some of them will be 25% or 30% off.”
Mathews Used Cars and Towing has been in business since 1965, when it was established by Raymond Mathews and his father-in-law.
“It was known as B & M Used Cars at that time,” Mathews said. “That was Burrows and Mathews, my father-in-law and me. We bought the lot and opened the car lot up, and we had someone running it for us at the time. Then, after a couple of years, I took over myself and changed it to Mathews Used Cars, and it’s been that way ever since.”
Skoglund bought the dealership in 2010 and began operating in 2012, but Mathews stayed on to help run the business until he retired in 2020.
With six decades of selling and towing cars, Mathews is one of the oldest retail businesses in Oglethorpe County.
“The people of Oglethorpe County was good to me,” Mathews said. “They trusted me with the cars I sold them and they were happy. I never had a complaint.”
Skoglund is looking to retire and put his businesses on the market to sell at the beginning of the year.
The Robbs, who live in Walton County, plan to renovate the garage and office into the tire and service shop.
“We know that the potential to have a very high volume store is there, simply because of the number of households and people that are driving through Lexington and Crawford just to get to Athens,” Mari said.
BlueSky will service all makes and models with all services, including tires, brakes, alignments, diagnostics, and major and minor repairs. Robb said they have experience working on “oldies but goldies” and will service vintage vehicles.
BlueSky has locations in Flowery Branch, Cumming and two in Illinois. All stores are individually managed by retirees of Bridgestone.
Mike retired last April after 32 years of working his way up from technician to managing partner, and Mari, who is ASE certified, retired from Bridgestone after 18 years.
“A lot of things we’ve learned from Bridgestone, whether we worked at Tires Plus, or Firestone or the corporate level, are really good ideas,” Mari said. “We said, ‘We can take that and do better.’ ”
The couple plans to combine their experience from bigger markets with their “small-town hearts” by providing Oglethorpe County with a local auto shop.
“We're looking to not just serve Crawford, but all of the rural community,” Mari said. “Rayle, Stephens, everybody that’s around there.”