About Us

Picture yourself in front of a boardroom full of bankers at 19 years old, you are nervous, your palms are sweating. Once only an idea by a young entrepreneur, now faced the opportunity to make a reality. You start your elevator pitch; you want to get a $600 loan to start selling tent campers on the scenic Mohawk Trail. After you pitch your business ideas, the reluctant bankers sit discussing your fate right in front of you. $400 is all that they want to give you. An older gentleman in the back corner says to his colleagues, “Give the boy a shot!”

This is the story that Fran Roberts, founder of Long View RV, told so many people for the next sixty years of how he founded Long View RV in 1959. What started as selling a pop up and a small gift shop underneath a tower that boasted a three-state scenic view in his hometown of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. The Roberts family and everyone who works at Long View prides itself on being family owned and has created a culture where everyone who works there becomes a part of this family.

Long View was built on the American Dream and continues to sell this dream to their customers. Bringing families and friends together to enjoy our beautiful nation and the Earth we live on is the foundation of what we do. We are selling dreams that become memories that families will hold dearly for the rest of their lives. 

In 1984, the business was moved to a five acre site in Northampton, MA. In 1993, the acquisition of a prime location in Windsor Locks, CT brought with it the need for a new name that would better suit the company that now had two major facilities and Long View RV SuperStores was born. The site is just North of Hartford, CT and adjacent to Bradley International Airport. The CT RV location is headed up by son Frank Roberts who has over 30 years of experience in the business. The Windsor Locks location also has a 5 acre RV sales display lot, a gigantic RV parts and accessory store and a busy RV service department. In 2009, the MA property was sold and the inventory consolidated at the larger CT facility.

Long View does have a succession plan in place. After being started by Fran Roberts in 1959, the business has been taken over by his son, Frank, who presently runs the company. His daughter, Lexi, will be graduating college in 2024 and then spending a year completing her MBA in 2025. Once completing her education, she will be joining the family business that she has been deeply involved with since 2018 when she was only 16 years old. She has filled the roles of service advisor, service dispatcher, parts manager, and spent some time in sales. Her commitment to Long View has been essential to long-term business planning and the company will remain family owned and operated for another generation.

Fran, Shirley and Frank Roberts
Founders of Long View RV Superstores