"When something like this happens, you feel like your life has been taken away," says Ford-Mercury dealer William Rivera. Rivera’s store, Route 104 Ford-Mercury in Oswego, N.Y., closed February 15th due to lack of sales. Route 104 sold 90 cars a month, but sales dropped dramatically the last month to three or four. “Ford vehicles no longer appeal to buyers”, he said.

The 91-inches of snow that blanketed over his new cars this month was the last challenge he could not over come. The dealership had to shut down when 45 out of 57 new cars were buried underneath the snow. This month's snowstorms did not have such a dire an effect on the other Oswego dealers as it did on Rivera. Unfortunately, they too have reported that sales have slowly trickled over the past few weeks. Vice president of Leon Shapiro Motor Sales, Todd Shapiro says, "We clean the vehicles off, move them and plow, then it snows and we do it all again." He had to advise customers to come back to the Chrysler group dealership this week.

Unfortunately, Ford Motor Co. spokesperson Lydia Cisaruk confirmed last week that Route 104 at this point has no plans of being replaced.