*** Last Ride for Lou's ***

Yakima, Washington -- 04/07/2004
Lou's Columbia Cycle on Fruitvale Boulevard is closing
its doors this month after 15 years, bringing the number
of bike shops in Yakima to its lowest point in decades.

In February, Yakima lost another bike shop
— Sagebrush Cycles in Glenwood Square.

"When I leave, there's only going to be one and that's the
sad thing," says Lou Miley, who traces his Yakima bicycling
roots back 53 years. "When you're down to one shop that
doesn't give you any choice."

What's worse, he says, is Yakima has
enough cyclists to support three bike shops.

Ailing health is forcing Miley out of business, three years shy
of retirement age. Donna Smith, owner of Sagebrush Cycles,
said she closed to spend more time riding bikes.

Valley Cycling and Fitness on West Nob Hill is soon to be
the only major specialty bike retailer between Ellensburg and
the Tri-Cities, except for Wild Wheel Bikes, a small BMX
dealer in Zillah. Valley Cycling owner Mark Van Kommer
says the closures locally reflect a depressed industry nationwide.

"I don't know why everybody's making such a big deal about it,"
he says, "because frankly it's happening all over America.

"It's just the state of the industry. Bike sales are flat. Kids would
rather put their butts in front of a computer than going out to get
some exercise."

Fred Clements, executive director of the National Bicycle
Dealers Association in Costa Mesa, Calif., says the total
number of independent bike shops has dropped over the
past decade.

"(But) it's not as extreme as what you're
apparently experiencing in Yakima," he says.

The association estimates there
are just under 5,000 shops nationwide.

Many of the trends plaguing bike retailers
are familiar to other businesses.

"Retail in general is difficult," Clements says,
"and there's not a lot of profit to be had in the bike business."

Consumers today have more choices of where to buy,
including mail order and the Internet.

Mass merchants have become more sophisticated
and are taking market share, especially on the low-end of the scale.

Clements says that nationwide, 70 percent of bicycles are sold
through places such as Wal-Mart and Target, which are
extremely price competitive.

By dollar value, however,
specialty shops still sell the majority of bikes.

Van Kommer is fighting the downward trend in the bicycle
industry by diversifying his business. He sells fitness equipment
and sports racks, and is in the process of opening a motorized division.

But the bike-shop business still demands an enormous amount
of time for not much money. It's like "buying yourself a basic-pay
job," Van Kommer says.

So why do it?

"I'm in it because I love it and my dad's been
in it since 1938," he says. "It's a job of passion."

That sentiment was echoed by those interviewed for this story.

For Miley, the small business he built with his
wife of 36 years, Linda, was practically in his blood.

His parents operated bike shops in Yakima from
1953 to 1981, teaching him the trade beginning at age 9.

"By the time I was 12, I could do just about everything,"
he says.

When he decided to go into business for himself in 1989,
he had the know-how to do repairs and a reputation,
through his family, with bicycle suppliers.

Miley estimated that to start a bike shop today, an investor
would need financial backing — to the tune of $20,000 to
$25,000 — or a track record in the industry.

"They (suppliers) have been burned too many times,"
he says.

Michael Adamson, a Yakima native and Northwest regional
sales manager for Seattle Bicycle Supply, says his company
requires its customers to be in a commercially zoned storefront,
rather than a home or garage — which is where the Mileys got
started. They must also carry liability insurance, which Lou
Miley says costs him more than $3,000 a year.

Other than that, the company is not picky about whom it
does business with, says Adamson, whose father used to
own the former Yakima Cycle Shop. But too often,
Adamson adds, would-be bike shop owners have
plenty of passion but not enough business sense.

"The retail store that opens in that case probably won't be
a success for very long because the business side will catch
up to them," he says.

Adamson, still a frequent visitor to Yakima, thinks "there's
great opportunity" for someone to fill the voids left by
Sagebrush and now Lou's, which is selling everything
in the store until April 18.

Three individuals have expressed interest in buying his shop,
Miley says, but so far, none could get the financing.

"With only three weeks left, I don't have much hope
that any of the offers will come through," he says.

He hopes that sometime in the future, a bike enthusiast
will pair business sense with passion and open shop in Yakima.

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Geneb...Wenatchee,Washington-USA
All Things Northwest in BMX!
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