After 28 years of selling cars, the Cat in the Hat has had enough of that.
Landon Odom opened Maple Leaf Motors on Great Northern Road in 1989, when the lot was surrounded by open fields and a smattering of other buildings.
“Just about every building around us has been torn down and rebuilt, or the empty fields that were here have been built,” said Odom by phone today.
“As I go south from my building here on Great Northern Road, Giovanni’s Restaurant is the first building you come to that was actually here when we opened 28 years ago. Everything else is brand new.”
Recently faced with a decision whether or not continue renting the site, Odom decided it was time to hang up his signature red and white striped hat.
“When you do a business like this, you pretty much make a decision to commit to doing it for five years at a time. Come the end of this September, I am going to turn 60 years of age and I just know I don’t want to keep running the store for another five years,” said Odom.
He has no regrets, he said.
“I am proud of the fact 28 years later we still have a good reputation in town. I have always tried to run the place with some degree of integrity. I always tried to put myself in other people’s shoes when talking to them,” said Odom.
He added, “it’s been fantastic. I have been able to make a living here, raise a family and become a member of the community. It’s been wonderful.”
Having the long-standing business on Great Northern Road, Odom has seen just about everything imaginable being trucked past the front of the store.
“It’s the only highway that goes from one side of the country to another — if you sit here for 28 years you see everything come by here at some point,” said Odom.
Most of all, Odom said he will miss the people he interacts with on a daily basis.
“You meet a lot of very nice people and you make a lot of nice friends through the years. It’s going to be a little bit sad not having all of these friends to visit with on a regular basis,” he said.
He may be best remembered for the series of Cat in the Hat-themed commercials which aired locally some years ago.
The idea bounced around his head for years, said Odom.
“I never actually had the nerve to do it, to stand up and make rhymes with the funny hat in front of the camera,” he said.
Eventually, he purchased the hat, recorded the commercials and the rest was history.
“I got such a tremendous positive response when I did the first one, we turned it into a series and ran with the theme for years after that,” said Odom, adding, “we ran with that for a good 10 years, at least.”
Within the last four years, Odom has shifted gears, with commercials themed around his dog Sako.
The business will close at the end of this month, after which Odom will sell off the fixtures, copiers, desks and everything else not nailed to the ground.
Odom plans to swap his pricing gun for a long gun after the liquidation is complete, on or around September 1.
“The date is just perfect for me to jump in with both feet and get into my hunting and fishing activities and have a busy fall in the bush,” said Odom.
He also plans on travelling with his wife.
A lot of deals had been negotiated over the years, said Odom, but one trade-in deal in particular stood out for him.
“They seemed kind of suspicious and we spent a degree of time talking to them. Next thing I know, the Sault Ste. Marie SWAT team converged on Maple Leaf Motors and took theses people down — and any of my employees who happened to be standing in the immediate area — had them all on the ground at gunpoint, telling them not to get up,” said Odom.
He said it turned out they were wanted on a Canada-wide warrant.
“They had killed somebody down the line. They were looking for these folks and they happened to stop at Maple Leaf Motors when they were apprehended,” said Odom.
Several vehicles were stolen off the lot over the years, but in one particular instance, the vehicle was recovered by police in Tennessee.
“I guess there’s been all kinds of weird stuff over the years,” said Odom.