One family has operated Madere’s throughout its existence
After nearly 90 years in business, during which time only one family has owned and operated it, Madere’s Garage in Hahnville is closing.
Madere’s is located on River Road in the center of Hahnville, where it was first founded by Leon Preston “L.P.” Madere in 1926. The business started as a small repair shop but has also operated as a gas station and car dealership. The latest set of owners are Leon Madere’s youngest son Jan Madere and his nephews Michael “Bazoo” and David Pizzolato, who purchased the business together in 1990.
While Jan runs the business side of the operation, Bazoo and David have been the resident mechanics. Of the three, only Jan, 68, has spent time away from the business when he served in the Army for two years.
“I’ve been here for 43 years. I graduated from college, went to the Army for two years and have been here ever since then,” he said.
But even before taking over the business, Jan spent a lot of his younger years in the shop. Being a family business, each of the three owners has spent the majority of their lives on the little strip of property across from the courthouse.
Now, they will be moving on.
“It is something you’ve been doing your whole life. It is the only thing any of us have done is work here. David started right out of school. Bazoo started right when he got out of school. It is the only job we’ve ever worked at,” Jan said.
For a long time, Madere’s was the only new car dealership in the parish.
“The first automobiles we had were Desotos and Plymouths, and then they discontinued Desoto and we had Chrysler/Plymouth. We also had International trucks before they discontinued selling International trucks. Then we started selling Dodge trucks and Jeeps as we got offered those franchises,” Jan said. “We were a quad dealer for a while there.”
David said being the only new car dealer in St. Charles Parish was a blessing.
“Some families we sold 30 to 40 cars to that one family. That goes a long way,” he said.
After Chrysler declared bankruptcy in 2009, Madere’s was one of 789 Chrysler dealerships nationwide that were discontinued. Since then the business has changed considerably. Now instead of having a lot with new cars, the garage only performs repair and body work.
“After the Chrysler bankruptcy we’ve scaled down to what we are today,” Jan said. “The automobile business is coming to where the small town single point dealerships are a thing of the past.”
David said losing the dealership was a big blow to the business.
“When we lost our cars it was rough on us, especially when you have the only dealership in the parish,” David said.
Five years after losing the dealership, the family decided it was finally time to close up. They are currently looking at offers from people who want to buy the business, which includes a storefront and three garages in the back that can accommodate several cars.
Although Jan is retiring, both Bazoo and David are faced with looking for outside work for the first time in their lives.
Bazoo, 53, said he does not know what the future holds.
“I used to come after school in junior high and sweep and mop when I was 12 or 13 years old,” he said. “It’s a little bit scary, but I know a lot of people. I am not looking to be a mechanic anymore.”
For David, he is hoping the property sells at a good price to provide the family with additional income.
“I just hope it works out the best for us. We built this business up and hopefully we can sell it and be profitable with it and be sort of semi-retired. That is my goal,” he said.
In the meantime, David is looking for a job, but is also not sure if he wants to continue working as a mechanic.
“It is hard, it is a different challenge today so I am going to try some different stuff ,” he said.
Despite having to give up the business, David said he feels like Madere’s did everything they could to help their customers.
“I think we left on a good note. I think 95 percent of our customers were always happy with what we did for them,” he said.
Jan agrees that the reason the business was able to last so long is because they won the trust of their neighbors.
“I think we treated everyone fairly that we dealt with and we always tried to take care of them. I am sure you can find a lot of people around here that have been satisfied with the way we take care of them,” he said. “It was just a family business. We were here to serve people. We lived with them, so we have to treat them right.”
The last day of business at Madere’s Garage will be Sept. 30.
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