CarMax regains momentum, but turnaround at Goochland HQ continues

CarMax named Keith Barr president and chief executive officer effective March 16, and the Goochland County company has since been showing fresh momentum even as the repair job remains unfinished. That matters in West Creek because CarMax is one of the county’s largest private employers, with a headquarters campus that anchors payrolls, service businesses and local tax stability.

The improvement is visible in CarMax’s fiscal 2025 results. Fourth-quarter net revenues reached $6.0 billion, up 6.7%. Retail used unit sales rose 6.2%, comparable store used unit sales increased 5.1%, wholesale units climbed 3.1% and total gross profit rose to $667.9 million, up 13.9%. CarMax said the gains accelerated in the back half of the year, a sign that business had begun to recover before the latest leadership reset was complete.

Barr arrived after a rough stretch that included layoffs and a change at the top. CarMax terminated President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Nash, effective Dec. 1, 2025. In late 2025, the company also cut about 350 employees nationally, including 55 in Virginia and 25 in the Richmond area, after an internal review of its Customer Experience Center team. Then on Jan. 14, CarMax cut about 230 more employees from Home Office and CarMax Auto Finance, including 113 in the Richmond area. Those cuts made the company’s rebound look more tentative than triumphant.

Barr’s background shows why CarMax turned to him for a reset. He led InterContinental Hotels Group from 2017 to 2023 and moved from Hawaii to the Richmond area to be based at the West Creek corporate campus. At the same time, Tom Folliard remained interim executive chair through the annual meeting in June 2026 before returning as non-executive chair, while David McCreight was set to return to his role as an independent director. The governance changes were part of a wider effort to steady a company still trying to restore confidence.

Goochland has long been tied to that effort. County economic development materials say CarMax chose Goochland in part because it sits centrally among regional stores in Richmond, Midlothian and Charlottesville, and because it offered a welcoming environment for associates. The headquarters is described as a 250,000-square-foot facility, while construction materials describe a five-story office building with 243,000 square feet of office space and a 19,000-square-foot fitness facility in West Creek Business Park. CarMax says it has more than 30,000 employees nationwide and more than 2,000 in the Richmond region, with two local stores in Midlothian and near Short Pump and office workers at the Midtown Technology and Innovation Center in Richmond.