The Robbins Way
/
Through 60 years of ups and downs, the Robbins Toyota team has run on a simple ethos: do the right thing
By Ellen Orr
The story of Robbins Toyota begins with founder Eddie Robbins, who grew up the son of a used-car dealer. He graduated from the University of North Texas, with plans of becoming a banker. He and his young bride, Janis, even moved to Dallas so he could pursue that career—but the call of automobile sales beckoned.
Susan Robbins took ownership of Robbins Toyota after her father, Eddie, died in 2014. Soon after, she hired Charles Pankey, general manager.
“It was in his blood,” said Janis Robbins, Eddie’s wife of 53 years. “He would bring cars from Texarkana to Dallas, advertise, and sell them.”
Soon, Eddie and Janis returned to Texarkana to work at, and eventually purchase, his father’s business, Robbins Motor Company, which was located at 4601 Texas Boulevard. In addition to selling preowned vehicles, he was also an American Motor Company dealer—and a very successful one: in 1965, AMC awarded him an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bahamas in recognition of his sales volume. The weeklong vacation was more pivotal than anyone could have predicted.
Eddie Robbins, pictured here in the 1980s, was known as a hands-on owner, spending his days at the dealership until his passing in 2014.
“We met a guy from California who was in the Toyota business,” Janis recalled. “He said it was brand-new in the United States.”
Eddie became interested and, upon research, discovered that the Japanese manufacturer was charging virtually no franchise fees in order to encourage growth in the American market, which was still gripped with anti-Japanese sentiment post–World War II.
In 1965, as a dealer for American Motors, Eddie won a trip to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. On that trip, he learned about Toyota, which changed his life.
“The story that [Eddie] told me was that the cost of getting into the franchise, once you were approved, was buying the sign for $960,” said Susan, Eddie’s daughter and the current dealer.
Despite local and national prejudice, Eddie believed in Toyota. He founded Robbins Toyota in 1966. The dealership remains today the second-oldest Toyota store in Texas.
Sales were hard to come by in the early days.
“The first several cars that were sold were sold to close friends,” Janis said, “and then it was a long time before he sold another.”
“Eddie loved [being a dealer]. He came early and stayed late. It wasn’t work to him.”
However, by the 1980s, Toyotas had gained the reputation they hold today—as some of the most efficient, reliable vehicles on the American market. By the late ‘80s, the store had outgrown its Texas Boulevard location. In 1986, they relocated to Summerhill Road, where they remained until 2011. Today, the store is located in Nash, Texas, on Mall Drive.
During both the highs and lows, Eddie personally thrived as a dealer. “Eddie loved it,” Janis said. “He came early and stayed late. It wasn’t work to him.”
Until his death in 2014, Eddie spent his days at the dealership, cultivating the business’ reputation as a hometown operation, where shopping locally is rewarded and the presiding ethos is to “do the right thing.”
“Eddie had a certain way of doing business,” Susan said. “He believed in doing business the right way and taking care of your customer. I think that’s why we’ve always stayed who we are. If you do things the right way, people continue to come back, and they continue to support you.”
Charles Pankey, the current general manager, shared that, though he never met Eddie, the founder’s legacy was apparent to him from his first interview.
“When I first interviewed with Susan, she said two things that were the most important thing to her,” he recalled. “One: I had to live in the community. The second thing she said was, ‘I don’t want any of that big Dallas nonsense in my store.’ She said, ‘I live in the community, I eat in the community, I shop in the community, I’m on several boards. I’m not going to be out in the public and hear that my stores are not running properly.’ If someone just bought a car and there’s a problem a week later, a lot of dealerships will go, ‘I’m sorry, you just bought the car; it’s as-is.’ She told me just to do the right thing [and help them]. ‘You don’t have to justify, you don’t have to make excuses. You just do the right thing.’”
Susan, a graduate of Southern Methodist University, spent nearly 20 years establishing a career in financial services in Dallas. But, like her father, she always felt drawn to the car industry. She always intended to take the reins of the store one day. In 2014, when her father became ill with cancer, she discovered that that day might be sooner than she expected.
Eddie endured a short illness and died on May 28th, 2014. Mere days prior, he had spent Memorial Day Weekend at the lake with his family, unaware that it would be his last holiday. During that gathering, Susan told him that it was time he prepared her to be his successor. He demurred; she persisted. Finally, he told her that the car business was “a man’s world.”
“That didn’t go over real well,” Susan said. “I realized later that he was trying to protect me. I did remind him that I was already in a male-dominated field, and I was used to the environment.”
As Eddie correctly predicted, since stepping into the automotive industry, Susan has faced hardships that a man, perhaps, would experience differently. The first of the hurdles was becoming a Toyota-approved dealer as someone who had no formal experience in the car business. The process took several years, and lawyers were involved. Janis recalled one attorney in particular referring to her and Susan as “that lady and her little girl.”
Robbins Toyota related to their Summerhill location in 1986.
“It was real frustrating to sit across the table from Toyota [representatives], where your father has built a great legacy, and them tell you no,” Susan said. “I felt like what they were trying to do wasn’t right. I told them that, if I couldn’t [run the store successfully] and was going to be a detriment, I’d be the first one to throw in the towel—because the last thing I wanted was to tarnish the Robbins name or ruin what my dad had built. I was just asking for a chance.”
After a long battle, Susan and Toyota entered into a temporary dealer agreement; over three years, Susan’s store needed to increase one of its metrics—called “sales efficiency”—to 100%. “I was confident that, under my leadership, and with the staff that was already here, we could get to where we needed to be,” Susan said.
The store hit 135% sales efficiency in just one year.
Though COVID and other shifts in the economic climate have proven challenging for Susan, Charles, and the rest of the team, through it all, Susan thrives—just as her dad did for so many years.
Eddie Robbins received the distinguished Toyota President’s Touch Award in recognition of his leadership and operational excellence.
“Susan will come in, and she’ll see customers and go to service. She’ll sit down and talk to them. She has customers call her personally to buy cars. There aren’t too many owners who go into the showroom and talk and work deals with customers,” Charles said.
Susan laughed, adding that her hands-on approach sometimes “freaks out” her GM.
“Charles nearly dies if I go out to wait on a customer,” she said. (“It makes me think someone’s not doing their job!” Charles interjected.) “But that’s what my dad would do.”
For four years, Robbins Toyota has held the Attend and Win Giveaway for students with perfect attendance through their senior year.
Under the leadership of Susan and Charles, Robbins Toyota has not just maintained its status as a local bedrock; it has, in fact, expanded its community reach. For four consecutive years, they have held their Attend and Win Giveaway, which is open to all students who have maintained perfect attendance through their senior years. The lucky winner receives a brand new Toyota vehicle. Relatedly, since 2023, Robbins has annually awarded area educators with free one-year leases on new vehicles. In addition to the vehicle, Teachers of the Year from area districts (Texarkana ISD, Texarkana Arkansas School District, and Liberty-Eylau ISD) receive one free tank of gas, one free car wash per month, and free vehicle maintenance throughout the year.
“A great Susan quote is, ‘There’s no better way to invest in the community than to invest in the future of the community,’” Charles said. “I think that is ‘doing things the right way.’”