SHELBY ─ The ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday at Rocket Chevrolet was largely about recognizing the resilience of the business.
On April 14, 2019, an F2 tornado hit Shelby and significantly damaged the southeast and east side of the city. Rocket Chevrolet’s facility was destroyed.
“It was very traumatic,” owner Brett Schluter said two years later. “And I really try not to remember it because it upsets me greatly.”
On Monday, Richland Area Chamber and Economic Development held the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the car dealership’s new building. Richland County Commissioners Darrell Banks and Tony Vero, along with Shelby Mayor Steven Schag all congratulated the business’ return.
“Various businesses were hit and hit hard (by the tornado), but I don’t think any of them suffered the consequences as much as Rocket Chevrolet,” Schag said.
The reopening celebrated the dealer’s resilience, recovery, and reinvestment, the mayor added. He said its future looks bright in Shelby.
The Chevrolet location has been in operation for more than 70 years. The Schluter family took ownership almost 30 years ago. General manager Tyler Armstead said they worked on the rebuilding project for about 19 months and moved into the new facility in November.
“One of the reasons that it took so long was because we sat down as a group ─ management and ownership ─ and really put into what we wanted, what we didn’t have in the last building,” Armstead said.
The new facility sits further away from State Route 39 and has a service department’s entrance at the front. Armstead said the square footage is approximately the same as the old building but has a lot more usable space. The showrooms are about twice the size of the old ones.
The business also raised the building a foot off the ground to create better visibility.
Except for the first week right after the tornado hit, Rocket Chevrolet remained consistently in the past two years. Schluter said the service department was moved to a building on nearby Mickey Road. The sales department stayed on-site, working out of trailers.
“I’d like to thank all the employees for everything that we went through. It was very hard, very tough times,” Schluter said on Monday.
The business stayed strong during the construction. The owner said people of Shelby, Mansfield, Ashland and the surrounding area continued to come out and purchased automobiles from his dealership. It became the silver lining.
While it’s been two years, Schluter remembered vividly the support of the community and the police and fire departments from different areas. He said people would bring food to the site and asked what they could help.
He was still overwhelmed with how nice everyone was to him and the employees.
