Many of Petter's employees have been with him more than 20 years, and all of them - except Petter - have been offered jobs with Barrier. The dealership was to reopen today as Barrier Motors. He started with three employees now there are 52, and, with their friends and families, they filled the Bel-Kirk showroom at an end-of-business party Saturday night. He spent nine years with Ravenna, then bought an existing Volvo dealership, Bel-Kirk, in 1963. Petter, who grew up in Seattle, got into the car business by going to work at Ravenna Motors, a North Seattle Volvo dealer, after serving in the Navy. Petter said the sign has been there since at least 1959.
Hall's disappeared years ago, and Lee Johnson moved up on Rose Hill to be near a freeway interchange, leaving Bel-Kirk as the only downtown dealer. "The factory's been leaning on me for more than 10 years," he said, explaining that Volvo wanted its cars sold through a bigger dealership, probably based in Bellevue.ĭowntown Kirkland, once the largest city on the Eastside, had such major auto dealerships as Hall's Motors, selling Fords, and Lee Johnson, selling Chevrolets. Petter said he made the change after thinking about it the past two years. Barrier is a Mercedes and Infiniti dealer. But they'll be out of here within a year."īel-Kirk sells Volvos and Saabs but handled Datsun for 20 years and also sold Fiats before the Italian automaker pulled out of the American market. "The town's been good to me, and I've been good to the town. That means that within a year, the "Volvo" sign that has stood atop the building at Central Way and Lake Street since 1959 will be gone, said Bill Petter, Bel-Kirk owner, who has run the business for 28 years. The new owner is Barrier Motors of Bellevue. After more than 30 years, one of the most familiar parts of the Kirkland landscape is going to disappear.
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