Curtains for Curran Cadillac After Four Decades?

By Dave Matlow

UPDATE Is Curran Cadillac Pontiac GMC. an auto dealership mainstay on Post Road East since 1964, closing its doors this week, putting 15 employees out of work?
There was confusion about whether the Curran auto dealership at 561 Post Road East will close after 44 years. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Jim Curran, president of Curran at 561 Post Road East, messaged WestportNow late today that was not the case.  However, Sales Manager Chris Kusick said on Saturday that the dealership will close on Friday. He said it will continue to operate and do service through Wednesday.

“My dealership is NOT closing its doors as of this Wednesday,” Curran said, without explaining his sales manager’s remarks. He had been unavailable for comment on Saturday.

The Internet killed the family car business, said Kusick, a seven-year employee. “It’s become an online auction. (People) search for a price online and then have the service done locally.”

The dealership opened in 1964 as a partnership with the O’Keefe family until Tom Curran bought out the O’Keefe’s interest in the 1970s. A year ago Jim Curran took over from his father, Tom.

Kusick said he was not aware of plans for the property, which had been rumored in Westport real estate circles to be on the market for several months.

With a Curran closing, Kusick said there will be no Cadillac dealer between Stamford and Shelton.

Three Curran employees have more than 20 years with the dealership, he said, adding that the Curran family had always been loyal to the employees and they to them.

“Today dealerships are run as corporations, not as family businesses where the family name was on the door and several family members were employees who gave personal attention,” Kusick said.

It’s like the transition of family-owned hardware stores to Home Depot and other corporate-style businesses where personal attention has gone by the wayside, he said.

He said Curran was unable to survive in an era when you end up competing online with a dealer on Long Island who has 5,000 cars.

However, Kusick said he expected the U.S. auto industry to stay in business, saying GM “is getting leaner.”

Kusick said no special event was planned for employees or customers at the closing and that the remaining inventory will be returned to GM.