ASHLAND — Dennis Gerwig, owner of Gerwig’s White Barn, said the last four years have been tough.
Since October 2020, Gerwig said he has experienced the loss of multiple family members, health struggles and difficulties with staffing shortages. Plus, Gerwig said the rise of big box stores like Walmart have made it difficult for local markets, like Gerwig’s White Barn, to compete.
All those factors contributed to a difficult decision to close the beloved family business, Gerwig said.
“I love my job,” Gerwig said. “I love the people that work for me and my mainstay customers, my loyal customers, are great people. But with the way things are right now, I just can’t run a business and I cannot be here 24/7. So that was my reason for closing.”
Gerwig made the tough call to close up shop. He’s now auctioning off the store’s items.
But when a door closes, a window opens.
Megan and Chad Auer, the owners of Auer Towing, received another chance to move forward with an idea to revive The Rollercade.
A work in progress
Gerwig said his lawyer is in the beginning stages of drawing up a lease agreement with the Auers. The lease agreement has yet to be completed and signed.
The Rollercade is an idea the couple said they’d wanted to get off the ground for years. In March, the Auers announced they were in the process of closing on a property located on Main Street.
But a March 26 Facebook post from The Rollercade announced that plan had fallen through.
“… It was definitely made clear that this property and this time is NOT right,” the March 26 Facebook post stated. “That being said we are grateful for the property owner for being so patient with us while we figured this all out.”
For the Auers, the bump in the road with the Main Street property was a challenging setback. But, they said they still wanted to hold onto the dream of bringing The Rollercade back to Ashland.
Gerwig said he’s been in conversation with Megan and Chad Auer about the possibility of selling Gerwig’s White Barn to them since July.
“Everything about this, any bump we’ve had has just been an easy… transition into making it work,” Megan said. “So it kind of shows that it’s meant to be and I think that’s because people are participating in it.”
Gerwig said he has to auction off the rest of the items in the store, which will take place online Oct. 1 and 2. His lawyer has to finalize the lease agreement as well.
But once that’s all finished, Gerwig plans to hand off the building to the Auers to begin work on The Rollercade. The Auers have plans to build a floor and redesign the space once the agreement is finalized.
For the benefit of the community
Even though letting go of a family business has been challenging for Gerwig, he said he thinks The Rollercade is a need in Ashland.
He said other people had come forward interested in purchasing Gerwig’s White Barn.
But in Gerwig’s opinion, The Rollercade offers a clear benefit to the community. As a father of young children, he said having another place for them to go was important to him.
“I was born and raised here,” Gerwig said. “… My dad was the same way. He was born and raised here. My mom, the same way, born and raised here. We care about the community, and that’s one of the reasons I chose The Rollercade. I believe the community needs something fun.”
For the Auers’ part, Megan said they’re just excited for The Rollercade to come to fruition.
“It’s been something we really thought about back in 2016,” Megan said. “We forgot about it for so many years and then just randomly came back up, and we’re making it happen.”
The Rollercade Facebook page has already advertised an event to take place at Gerwig’s White Barn at the end of October.
The event, a spooky car show, is set to take place at Gerwig’s White Barn at 1 p.m. on Oct. 26.
