By Sophia Root,
Commerce Chenango
This week, Commerce Chenango would like to highlight Oliver’s Campers, a third-generation family owned and operated RV dealership located in Norwich. Since 1966.
Oliver’s offers new and used travel trailers, fifth wheels, and pop-ups. They also offer a wide variety of parts in their store and have a full-service department that can handle any RV repair.
Oliver’s Campers is owned by Jim Oliver, whose sons Andrew, Tyler, and Jordan manage day to day operations of the dealership.
Tyler Oliver discussed the history of the business, saying, “My grandparents enjoyed taking their family camping and decided to offer that experience to our community. They started by ordering 3 pop-up trailers, that they set up in their side yard, in January, yes, January, of 1966. It took off from there.”
Aside from being a true family affair, Oliver’s Campers is also loyal to Norwich and surrounding communities. The dealership sponsors community events and advertises on local placemats but has made a concentrated effort in the past few years to get more involved.
The business donates to the UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, Friends of Rogers, Chenango SPCA and are involved in YMCA and little league teams. Additionally, they have participated in the annual Tree Lighting Festival in downtown Norwich for the past few years, setting up a fire pit and giving out s’mores.
While the rural setting of Norwich and Chenango County lends to camping, it presents some unique issues for consumers. Since there is no main highway that runs through Norwich and customers must come here to pick up their campers, they see Oliver’s Campers as a hidden gem.
Tyler said the dealership has sold to customers from Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Maine. “The outsiders appreciate the legit family-owned business out in the middle of nowhere, and always say they are pleased with the beautiful drive and are surprised at all Norwich has to offer.”
He said he is proud of the community and organizational involvement he and his brothers have taken on in the past few years.
“We love to have the Oliver name out there in the Norwich community. We are glad that we can give back monetarily and with hands on involvement,” said Tyler.
Born and raised in Norwich, Tyler has never seen himself anywhere else. He appreciates the local environment and the family ties that are here for him.
The dealership has eighteen employees, who are the greatest resource to the company.
“As we have grown, we’ve depended on them to ensure our family-orientated environment still exists. We’ve gone from 6 employees, 4 of which being Olivers, to 18 employees. Getting them to not only buy into the ‘Oliver way’ but promote it has been extremely important in our growth,” said Tyler.
Last year the company sold 290 campers out of their Norwich store. To put this growth into perspective, just 10 years ago in 2013, they sold 76. Oliver’s Campers is coming off a few great years with the increase in camping during COVID. The industry has started to level itself out and the company is excited to see where it goes.
Recently, Oliver’s Campers built a second building in LaFayette for service and bolstered their service department here in Norwich. They are currently running a Fall Savings Event, there are deals offered on all their current inventory, including new.
Oliver’s Campers is open Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm, and Saturday 9am-1pm. To learn more about the dealership: visit their website www.oliverscampers.com or Oliver’s Campers on Facebook.