Brookfield Indian Now Open

UPDATE: Having received its certificate of occupancy, Brookfield Indian Motorcycle is now open.

BROOKFIELD, CT – Construction of a new Brookfield Indian Motorcycle dealership is headed toward completion with owner Robert V. Gaulin targeting a late August opening for what will be combined Indian and Victory store. Gaulin promises a 12,000-square-foot showplace; an “elaborate and beautiful space inside” and “a home away from home” for riders in Connecticut and the Hudson Valley of New York.

Gaulin is an avid motorcycle enthusiast (who currently rides a Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail) as well as a prominent attorney in New York City and resident of Greenwich, CT. His legal background is in entertainment and media, including Broadway and television.

“This is my latest production,” he said during a lengthy interview Thursday evening with RIDE-CT & RIDE-NewEngland. “My days are never the same. My deals are never the same.”

Planning for Brookfield Indian Motorcycle started in January 2015. Conditional approval from the Polaris-owned brands came in June 2015. The time since has been spent locking down a location at 20 Federal Road and undertaking construction. “We have faced more hurdles than I could have ever imagined. We jumped all of them,” Gaulin said.

While flooring is still being installed, the facility has been painted. “Bikes have already arrived. We have bikes and merchandise, ” he said. All that’s needed now is a Department of Motor Vehicle inspection and a certificate of occupancy from the town. “We’re going to have a soft opening. The last week of the month is most realistic,” Gaulin said. “We have had a good relationship with Brookfield. The town has been phenomenal.”

Brookfield Indian Motorcycle will be the first Indian dealership in Connecticut and only the third in New England. It expects to draw customers from across the state as well as from Westchester, Putnam and other nearby counties in New York. “This is going to be more like a Rolls-Royce dealership than a Yugo dealership,” Gaulin said.

The floor is being covered with “porcelain tile that looks like real wood.” Unlike other dealerships where new motorcycles are lined up handlebar-to-handlebar, Brookfield Indian Motorcycle will display them with room for shoppers to walk around and inspect them. “It’s not a metric place. It’s not a gaggle of bikes,” he said.

The dealership will also feature an owners’ room, complete with 65-inch TV, for riders to gather, gab and relax. There will also be a fleet of demo bikes for prospective customers to try out.

An initial staff of seven employees has been hired. Jim Holland, a 20-year Harley-Davidson veteran, will be general manager, while Gaulin’s son, Eric, will be operations manager. “We have our staff and they are all uber-local. These people are so excited. Their enthusiasm is going to make the place pop,” Gaulin said.

During the conversation, Gaulin emphasized several times that the store will not be about the owner, rather the customer, even though he has been involved in every aspect of the build-out “right down to the color of the grout.”

While Indian’s goal is to put a big dent in Harley-Davidson’s sales, Gaulin said he isn’t so laser-focused and said the opening of Brookfield Indian Motorcycle will result in three top-notch brands within a short distance of one another; the other two dealers being Harley-Davidson of Danbury and Max BMW.

“I’m not interested in a battle with them,” he said of Harley-Davidson of Danbury.

Gaulin has been riding since the early 1990s and has only owned two motorcycles – a BMW and his current Harley-Davidson. His son also rides a Harley. “They’ll be the first two used bikes on the floor,” he said, adding that opening an Indian dealership is “a hell of way to get a bike for a little less.”

(Revised at 6:48 p.m. on Aug. 5, 2016)