Silver linings: Bike shop enjoys sunny side of economy's storms

By Patrick Oden

May 5, 2009 | LOGAN -- Walk through the doors of Wimmer's Sewing Machine and Vacuum Cleaner Co. on Main Street and you will find exactly that. Vacuum cleaners lined neatly in a row flanked by an array of sewing machines. The essence of oil fills the air and you can't help but feel confident. Whatever your vacuum or sewing machine need, Wimmer's can help.

The only thing is, you're not looking for a new dust sucker, and you wouldn't know a bobbin from a butter knife. No, you're looking for a bicycle, and despite your skepticism, the white banner with red lettering drooping from the side of the unpresumptuous light brick building has driven your curiosity to the breaking point: "Bike Sale."

Just past the sewing machines and nearly obscuring the fish tank are lines of shiny new bicycles. Spilling forth from the small room at the back of the store, it only takes a moment before it all seems to make perfect sense.

"I'm looking for a grandma bike," said a woman who appeared to be in her mid-50s. "Something with a wide seat."

The man she addressed had come from behind the front counter and offered his assistance. I want something I can ride to work, it's about six miles, the woman continued. I like this one, would it be good for me?

The clerk, clad in a dark blue apron, answered with a smile, "I'm not sure, I'm the vacuum guy."

Marc Wimmer and his father Steve have run Wimmer's Ultimate Bicycles from the rear of the vacuum store for the past eight years and according to Marc Wimmer, business is showing no signs of slowing down.

With almost all retail segments reporting declining sales, small, independent bike shops seem to be faring well. "Typically in the past… the bike industry has been pretty recession proof," Wimmer said, and he's right.

According to data collected by the National Bicycle Dealers Association (NBDA), the $6 billion a year bicycle industry is stable and has seen little fluctuation in more than a decade. While independents bike dealers command only 17 percent of the market in terms of units sold, they generate 50 percent of sales in terms of dollars spent on bicycles and accessories.

Consolidation has led to nearly a third fewer independent bike shops in the past 10 years, according to the NBDA, with the Internet playing a role as well.

"Bikes are still technical enough, people aren't that comfortable buying a bicycle off of the Internet," Wimmer said. "I would say that's the number one thing people do on the computer, they buy a bike and they buy the completely wrong size… I think from that standpoint there will always be a place for an independent dealer."

Big box retail outlets are another bicycle source that doesn't seem to be worrying the independents. "Service has always been our niche," Wimmer said. "I stroll through there [big box stores] and I'm like wow, those handlebars are on backwards.

"I don't know a dang thing about plasma TVs, you go to those big box stores and it's impossible for everybody there to know everything in the entire store," he said.

There is a lot to be said for stability, and the Wimmers realize it. "Chances are you're going to be able to walk back in here and be able to talk to the same two guys that sold you a bike five years ago, that's kind of a rarity in most small businesses," Wimmer said.

Eight blocks south, located next to the Ellen Eccles Theatre, another independent bike shop is thriving. The sign just above the door, discreetly hidden by the shop's awning, depicts a woman, perhaps an angel, in a state of undress. Clutching the handlebars of bicycle with winged pedals, she seems to trail horizontally as if crossing the night sky at neck-break speeds. This sign bears no name, but high above on the majestic brick fascia of the building, the shops marquee calls out to all of those with a passion for cycling, simple but to the point, "Joyride."

The bell rings as the door opens, mechanics in aprons are visibly wrenching away and bicycles litter almost every square inch of floor and wall. Little bitty bikes, big tandem bikes, mountain bikes, commuter bikes, hot rod cruisers, cruisers with cute little flowers, and road bikes, well, there's a whole other room for those.

According to Jocelyn Berlage, a salesperson who has worked at Joyride for two years, the store's entire basement is filled, to the point there is no room to move, with additional stock and bikes that have been brought in for service.

This isn't because business is bad, said Berlage -- just the opposite in fact. At Joyride, business has grown quickly, allowing for the increase in inventory, and there is occasionally a wait for service greater than two weeks.

"Having a wide variety of the different styles of bikes and in different sizes and colors helps cater to everyone so we don't have to send them away to find what they're looking for," Berlage said.

Where the economy seems to be affecting bike dealers isn't in lower sales volume but in higher prices. The dollar has been weak abroad and the NBDA estimates more than 99 percent of bicycles sold in the U.S. are manufactured in China and Taiwan. This has lead to increases in prices across the board for bicycle shoppers.

"Every company has raised their prices significantly from 2008 to 2009. Prices have naturally gone up so people are forced to spend more. It's pretty universal," Berlage said.

And spend more they will.

"National trends related to the green movement, environmental sustainability, the need to address health problems related to inactivity, and higher gas prices also bode well for the future of human-powered transportation," according to the NBDA report.

When asked why Joyride was growing while the economy collapsed, Berlage said, "It doesn't seem so much an economic thing, rather an increase in an awareness of the shop and an interest in cycling."

The evidence shows that Logan isn't unique, bicycle dealers are doing well as a whole but in this town, growth is ahead of the curve.

Cache Valley is host to several road races each year including LOTOJA, a single day race from Logan to Jackson, Wyo., and the Little Red Riding Hood, an internationally known charity race restricted to women riders.

Couple this with countless miles of mountain bike trails, wrapping through almost every part of the steep and rocky canyons surrounding Logan, and it begins to become clear. This is a cycling town and the independent bicycle dealers here aren't just peddling transportation, they're feeding an addiction.

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