Family business continues at Columbia Harley Davidson

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Jason Rodgers has been riding motorcycles since he was about 6 years old. That said, he didn’t originally intend to run his own shop when he got older. But, that’s exactly what he’s doing.

“I started on dirt bikes and was always drawn to them, but it was something that just kind of presented itself,” said Rodgers, referring to his career choice at Columbia Motorcycle Harley-Davidson in Vancouver.

After graduating from Camas High School, Rodgers enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he served in combat operations in Mogadishu, Somalia before coming back home and getting a job in the manufacturing industry. He took a jump into working at Columbia Motorcycle Harley-Davidson in 1998, where he met up with former classmate Jennifer Kreofsky.

“It ended up being a great move for me not just because I met my wife, but it turned out the company I’d worked for shut down not long after I left,” said Rodgers.

They got married a few years later and her father, owner Jim Kreofsky, soon approached them with the idea of having the couple take over as third-generation owners.

“Jim was getting up there in years and realized he wanted to retire, so he was wanting to either keep the business in the family or sell it,” Rodgers said.

After giving it some thought, Jennifer and Jason decided to continue running the business started 70 years ago by her grandfather, Emil Kreofsky. They also relocated from Fourth Plain Blvd. in Vancouver to their current location in Hazel Dell.

“Considering Jennifer’s family had been working on Harley Davidsons for more than 100 years, it just made sense to keep it that way,” said Rodgers.

Emil Kreofsky got his start working for his uncle, who founded the Harley Davidson dealership in Portland in 1912. In October 1944, Emil found a small wooden shop on Columbia St., and named it Columbia Motorcycle. In 1947, Harley Davidson asked Emil to become the official dealership for Southwest Washington. Relocating to Fourth Plain Blvd., in 1955, and passing to Jim when his father retired in 1975, the business is still the oldest motorcycle dealership in the Pacific Northwest.

When Jason and his wife assumed the mantle of owners, he said the biggest challenge wasn’t learning the business, but assuring his customers that he wouldn’t ruin it.

“It did take a lot of breaking down barriers to show them I was serious,” said Rodgers. “Because there is such a culture surrounding motorcycles, they can get the impression of newcomers being born with a silver spoon and not being one of them. Fortunately, Jennifer didn’t have to worry about it since her dad’s customers knew her since she was a kid.”



While Harley Davidson has long been synonymous with the American motorcycle industry and culture, Rodgers also admits that the brand has taken a hit over the last few years and is only now starting to come back.

“It was really at its peak during the 90s when Harleys were in limited production and it spurred high demand, so we had a waiting list,” said Rodgers. “For the last 10 years or so, it was the other way around and now I think corporate is realizing they need to start going back the other way.”

In working with his clients in finding them the perfect bike, Rodgers admitted the most important thing he’s had to learn wasn’t salesmanship, but psychology.

“It took some getting used to, but you have to understand that everyone is different and has different wants in a motorcycle,” said Rodgers. “I had to understand the quirks of human nature and what I think might be best for them, might not actually be what is the ideal bike.”

This year, Harley Davidson is also releasing a newer and less-powerful line of motorcycles for new riders and those who may be intimidated by the more powerful, traditional “hogs.”

“Harleys can be very powerful bikes and they also realized that their core of die-hard riders are slowly fading away, so they need to find ways to get new riders on the bikes and willing to try them out,” Rodgers said.

One of the ways Rodgers is warming up to new riders is actually encouraging them to start small and then come back to his shop when they’re ready for a proper Harley.

“Obviously, I want every person who rides out of the shop with one of our bikes to be safe and enjoy themselves, so I have no problem telling people to go take the county’s motorcycle safety course and get familiar with how a bike works or if it’s right for them,” said Rodgers. “Then when they come back, they seem to have a better feel for both the kind of bike they want and how to use it better.”

Rodgers doesn’t get out on the open road with his bike as much as he used to, with he and his wife taking care of their third daughter, who’s 17 months old. Having two teenage daughters as well, he said it’s not out of the question that the business may someday pass from mother to daughter, but isn’t worried about it yet.

“They’re 17 and 13 years old and really don’t know what they want to do yet, so we’re not looking to pressure them at all, because Jennifer and I were both there once,” said Rodgers. “They both like riding on the back of daddy’s bike, though, so when they get a little older, who knows?”

Columbia Motorcycle Harley-Davidson is located at 1314 NE 102nd St. in Vancouver and is open Tues.-Fri. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Information on available models can be found online at www.columbiahd.com or by calling (360) 695-8831.