Jessica Stahl continues father’s legacy with Rochester-area Chevy store

Listen to this article

Jessica Stahl’s introduction to the world of auto dealerships began early in life.

Her father, Greg, was ascending the ladder from sales to store ownership at Bob Johnson Chevrolet, and she would sometimes tag along with him at work.

But cars weren’t necessarily the allure. Gadgets with buttons, however, could keep her entertained for hours.

“I would be in the office and used to play with Bob’s calculator, the kind with the paper that came out the back,” she said.

“And she would just keep making the paper come out,” Greg Stahl recalled.

Jessica Stahl is still intrigued by the auto world, only now her interest isn’t in the gadgets, it’s in the cars that are sold by her dealership, Jessica Chevrolet in Honeoye Falls. She has been the owner since September of 2023 and is one of around only 10 percent of GM dealerships with a woman as majority owner.

While Greg Stahl’s success in building a single Chevy dealership into the 22-store Bob Johnson Auto Group has earned him induction into the Rochester Business Hall of Fame, his daughter didn’t have ownership plans.

She had gone to work in human resources at Bob Johnson Auto Group out of college, then spent a couple years working as a district manager for General Motors in the northeast and Georgia before rejoining her father’s business. At no point was owning a dealership her dream.

“I’m not a huge risk-taker so it wasn’t something I thought would ever happen,” she said.

Then along came opportunity. Bob Johnson Auto Group had a chance to acquire Molye Chevrolet. Greg Stahl and business partner John Love thought it made more sense for Jessica to buy the store, however.

“Right place, right time, right person,” said Jessica Stahl, who grew up in Brockport and is a 2008 graduate of Aquinas Institute. “They thought it would be a perfect fit for my personality and the town. It’s more like family and it’s a laid-back environment.”

And if her father and Love thought it made sense, well, it probably did.

“I look up to them so much,” she said.

Said Greg Stahl: “We did feel she had a talent and this was the right size; a small community store where she can make an impact. She has a good knack with people, and she has embraced it.”

Indeed, she is more than just a business owner in the community. She and her fiancé moved to the village in August.

One of her first tasks upon taking over was adding staff to several departments. The dealership now is in the process of expanding its service and detailing area by renovating a barn that is adjacent to the property.

She also added inventory and hired a used-car manager, providing customers with more choices when they visit the lot.

“She expanded the inventory and knows how to manage it; that’s something she’s really good at,” her father said.

Above all, however, she values culture.

“I want to make sure all the employees feel valued, that’s so important,” she said. “You’re at work more than you’re at home so it has to be a place you enjoy.”

Her time working for GM managing districts in two different geographic regions provided valuable experience.

“I already had a dealership background to bring to GM and now I had the corporate point of view to bring to the dealership,” she said.

The dealership is independently owned but does share an alliance with Bob Johnson Auto Group. And advice is just a phone call away.

“I’m not involved,” her father said, “unless she’s got a headache and then she calls me.”

While her father started with one dealership, buying out founder Bob Johnson in 2001 and then building an auto empire, Jessica Stahl is quite content with her small-town store.

“I don’t need to be the biggest or best, I just want the people that come in to have a great experience,” she said.

To ensure that happens, she follows the business principle that has guided her father.

“If you help people get what they want, you’ll get what you want,” she said.

[email protected]/(585) 653-4020