09/30/2021
A Letter to Our Customers and Community:
We regret to inform you that Sterling Home Showcase is no longer able to order new homes for our customers. As of Oct. 1, our display center at 2303 W. Atherton Drive will be closed. Existing customers with homes on order will continue to receive the same Sterling service for which we are known.
Since we opened in 2005, Sterling Home Showcase has been the premier display center for Skyline Homes Corporation. Despite our mutual agreement to an exclusive business partnership with Skyline Homes, they have abruptly severed our relationship. Simply put, Skyline is refusing to take any production orders from Sterling Home Showcase, which has effectively put us out of business.
We will continue to offer our same Sterling service to all our existing customers until our last home is delivered. All of us at Sterling Home Showcase are grateful for the opportunity we had to make a difference in our community and in the manufactured home industry.
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A message from the owners, Chris Harris, and Lisa Haworth-Harris:
Becoming a manufactured home retailer was a long-time dream of ours. Chris was raised in the industry; his father Jim Harris owned and operated Madison Mobile Homes in Manteca for over 30 years, with Chris managing operations for 15 of those years. As Jim began to consider retirement, we realized an opportunity to open a place of our own, which integrating Jim’s wisdom with ideas we’d formulated from years of observation.
In 2005 our dream became a reality as we opened Sterling Home Showcase. The name “Sterling” was a nod to Jim Harris. Jim had chosen “Lance Sterling” as his stage name when he moved to California with his family to make a name in the music industry. Jim continued to make music until the day he died in 2009, but his real success was in the mobile home sales. “Sterling” was a natural fit because it felt like a family name, but also denoted the quality we intended to embody every step of the way.
Mobile homes were eventually termed “manufactured homes” as quality standards improved, but manufacturers and retailers remained largely unchanged. We had a real desire to raise the bar and change people’s perceptions of factory-built homes. First, it was vitally important to us that we were transparent with pricing, options and delivery timelines. Next, we wanted to elevate the home-buying experience for our customers, which started with a no-pressure shopping environment, a landscaped residential display, and homes that were welcoming, and tastefully decorated. As a testament to our professionalism, our display models were frequently utilized on the Skyline/Champion corporate website as an example of the beauty and quality that Skyline/Champion wishes to portray nationwide, and still are today!
In the 16 years since we opened our doors we continued to grow and change. We endured the Great Recession of 2007-2011; welcomed new team members, and we bid farewell to others. Every member of our team took pride in our mission, which was reflected in the quality of their work. We loved everything about the industry, our business, our customers, and our Sterling family. It was a most amazing experience, and an opportunity for which we will be forever grateful.
To all the customers that bought a home at Sterling Home Showcase, we consider you part of our Sterling Home family, and hope we’ll see you again. Buying a home is one of the biggest decisions that most people will make in their lifetime. We are honored that you placed your trust in us.
To our current customers with homes on order, we want you to know that our commitment to you stands. Although our beautiful display center will be closed, we will continue to deliver the same great service to each of you until the last home is finished.
We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone that has shown us support over the years; it has meant the world to us. It is with great sadness that we say goodbye, but as we accept this unexpected change, we are also beginning to look forward to new adventures, and possibilities yet to be discovered.
