Economic woes touch MC

As drivers head north along U.S. 29 in Oak Hill, the lot in front of Eddins Ford may appear a bit less crowded than usual.
“People say to me, ‘You don’t have the inventory you used to have,’ and they’re right. When the market started to slow down, I adjusted my inventory,” President Gregory Fisher told The Eagle.

Fisher has spent the past year reducing the number of cars on sale at the Madison County-based new and used car dealership and working to cut costs.
“We buy everything we need but not things we want,” he said. “I want to pave my other lot, but that’s not going to happen until things get better.”
Auto industry sales in September were the lowest in the past year, with overall sales down approximately 30 percent from this same time last year, according to recent news reports.

Eddins Ford is experiencing a similar decline. “The last time sales were this bad was 1991,” Fisher said, adding that the dealership experienced a similar dip in sales in the 1980s.

Although the Eddins Ford president predicts that many dealerships – and other types of companies – will go out of business or be sold before the economy improves, he says he will not be shutting his doors.

“I’ve been here 38 years and I’ve been through this before,” Fisher said of the company that’s been in his family since 1929. “You have to prepare for bad times.”

Slow sales widespread

Madison County businesses within various industries are feeling the pain of a slowing economy.

“I’ve heard a lot of, ‘We’re very slow right now, we’re hoping it will pick up soon,’” Madison Chamber of Commerce Director Tracey Williams told The Eagle. “I know some businesses are cutting down their hours.”

The chamber of commerce is working to promote local businesses and boost awareness of what’s available right here in Madison County, she said.
“We’re letting people know of the services available here they might not know of,” she said. “It helps local businesses but also helps people cut down on their driving time to Charlottesville for services they can get here.”

But despite the tough times, many companies are managing to avoid shutting down, she said.

“People are trying to be optimistic,” Williams said. “They hope after the election things will get better, they see a light at the end of the tunnel and hope that by spring things are better.”

Changes at Wachovia

In an effort to avoid the collapse of Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia Corporation, which operates a bank branch in Madison, the U.S. government was assisting with a purchase of the banking company by Citigroup, according to news reports. Late last week, Wachovia announced separate merger negotiations with Wells Fargo, reports state. It is unclear at press time who the new owner or owners will be.

As of June 2007, Wachovia held about 48 percent of the market share in Madison County, shortly behind Second Bank and Trust, with about 52 percent of the county’s deposit market share, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Despite the possible sale, a Wachovia spokesperson has said that customers should not experience any changes with their accounts.
No specific branch closures had been announced at press time. Neither Wells Fargo nor Citigroup operate branches in Madison County.

The manager of Wachovia’s Madison branch told The Eagle she could not comment on the proposed changes.