Last year was full of change for Scott Hatchett, managing partner of Scholfield Buick GMC and Scholfield Hyundai.

General Motors, a major supplier to one of his two dealerships, shut down the Pontiac brand, one of three GM brands that his dealership carried for decades.

And there was the GM bankruptcy and the recession.

But Hatchett said he attempts to take those things in stride.

"I guess I try to have amnesia about the negatives and focus on the positives," Hatchett, 39, said this week.

Hatchett said he's been through tougher times as a dealer, such as when he was general manager of the former Quality Chevrolet in the late 1990s. The tough thing about running that dealership, he said, was trying to run it from downtown, while nearly every other new car dealer was on east or west Kellogg.

The key to managing through tough times, he said, is good help among the two dealerships' 120 employees.

"I've found over the years the best way to address the challenges of the business — whether it be the economy or just being in a highly competitive market — is surrounding yourself with good people. I think that's probably been one of my center focuses since day one, is trying to put good people around me. They certainly make my life easier, I can tell you that."

What's been the most challenging part of being a car dealer?

"The challenging part of being a dealer probably isn't different than any other business. You're going to have variables that come into play that are out of your control... whether it be the local economy or suppliers, which in our case is our manufacturers. And you don't control what they're building. You don't control how much of it you get. You don't control the incentives on it. And so those are the variables that are probably the most challenging part of the business."

What about the auto business piqued your interest?

"I started in the car business when I was 16 (working for his father, car dealer Steve Hatchett). I was a porter, which means I washed cars, drove cars for the service drive. Then in college I started selling cars and so to a certain degree I'm not sure any one variable piqued my interest. But if anything, maybe it was in my blood a little bit. And as I got towards graduating college, I explored some other options. Frankly, the biggest thing that drew me back to the car business was I knew I wasn't going to be a guy behind the desk all the time. I'd be out on the sales floor with our staff, working with our customers, working with our service customers and that just sounded much more inviting to me personally than being stuck behind a desk. Unfortunately these days I seem to be stuck behind it more than I want to be."

Yours is really a people business, isn't it?

"It really is, first and foremost. There is a lot of great product out there, but ultimately you are buying it from a business you are comfortable with."

Do you see all three stores every day?

"I try to make time to visit every single location every week. I try to switch up the weekends where I'm at. That way I'm working with multiple staffs and they know that I actually exist. It is fun getting to know everyone and getting to see where we're good and where we need improvement."

How is the sales environment right now?

"It is better than it was in the same period last year, but I will say only moderately. Putting that into context, January and February in a robust economy are still difficult months, so I think by the time we finish February, we'll probably finish about 10 percent up over February '09. So not a huge leap but a positive move in the right direction."

What's your expectation of business going forward?

"From just talking to business people in our community it seems to me that Wichita at least has stabilized. So I don't believe people are as fearful of the future. As we get into more of our selling season, which starts March onward, I actually do see it having — I don't want to be too optimistic — but I do see it having moderate improvements every month for the rest of the year, from '09. From everything I hear, I think 2011 is probably the year you'll see Wichita in full rebound mode."

Do you think GM's entry into and out of bankruptcy last year had an effect on your Buick GMC store?

"In the long run it's going to end up having a positive effect. Obviously if you want to look at the absolute days of the bankruptcy it was difficult. Anytime you put the word bankruptcy on top of a business, you have people fearful. General Motors was in a position that they could produce far more cars than they could sell. Now after bankruptcy, they've gotten themselves in a position where they sell more cars than they can produce. So if they can find that balance they can be a highly profitable company."