The Beginning

It's Sunday evening and I have decided to start my blog (because my very good friend Andy said I need one, and since he is always right, well here I go) instead of start dinner for my daughter, her friend and me.

Agoura Cycles was started a little over 5 years ago. The store has been in the same location since 1982 as Agoura Cycling Center, and has had 3 owners prior to me. I bought it in April of 2003, and renamed it Agoura Cycles. It was a "dinky" store with a completely different mix of product than today. If I remember, we had one road bike in the store, about 5 electric scooters and a lot of low priced bikes I would rather not discuss. After closing the first day, I looked around and asked why was I doing this? That fact is, I knew nothing about running a bike store, and was completely out of my element. My background was running insurance businesses, in a much larger "arena". I thought I could buy this small underproducing retail store, turn it around, and then work part time there and also consult in the area I was much more qualified and comfortable with. Little did I know that that day would never come!

The firt two months of owning the store, I found out I needed to replace the entire staff, completely clean the store, identify over half of the inventory as old and obsolete, and basically control myself from not having a nervous breakdown. Was I ever surprised. and to top that off, fight to maintain the brands that were currently in the store. But, I was up for the challenge, as I never allowed myself to dwell on what I could not accomplish.

Today, the Agoura store has close to 15 full and part time employees, is known as one of the leading road shops in the area and is proud to sell Giant, Orbea, Felt, Pinarello, Scott, DeRosa, Diamondback and Raleigh bicycles. I have a very healthy respect for my competitors in the Conejo Valley and know that each of them brings value to cycling and to the sport. We strive to give the best service, from the moment you enter our store, through the entire shopping experience. If we don't have what you need, we won't sell you what we have. We will work with you to either get what is right for you, or recommend where to get it. I personally will never sell something just to get it off the floor.

I forgot to mention, that last year, we opened our second store, Boulevard Cycles. Located just east of Van Nuys Boulevard on Ventura Boulevard, it was the first "Giant Podium" store in Southern Califonia to open. The store is a beautifu example of what a lot of money and ingenuity can do when designing a new age bicycle store. It's what manufacturers and retailers are willing to do to bring a higher level of professionalism to cycling. The store continues to grow under the direction of Jim Aalfs. Giant is our primary brand featured, and as a partner, Giant never told us what we can not sell in our store, like other brands have done. We hope as the store grows, we are forced to take additional space when the times is right.

Why would anyone want to shop at either store? First and foremost, we strive to offer customer service beyond other stores. How many times have you gone into a bike store, only to be ignored or feel you are not important? This past Saturday, our Agoura Cycles store must have had 25 people in the store. Some were cyclists who finished our group ride and just hung out. Others were just customers shopping. I always make it a point when I am there to greet every customer when they come in, and when it gets that busy and I see a customer walk out due to no one able to help them, I can't tell you how bad I feel that I could not break away and apoligize for no one getting to them sooner. We were fortunate that no one walked out, and it was one of our best Saturday's that I can remember. The energy from customer's testing bikes and trying on clothes was amazing. The dressing room by the end of the day looked like Barney's on their once a year sale day! The staff did a great job and dealt with any issue that came up. The only tragedy was we coulld not install Jim Passantino's pursuit bars, but I promised him it would get done this week!

We will continue to look for new ways to bring new cyclists to us and hold classes and seminars on cycling topics. If you have suggestions, we welcome it. Our Saturday rides are designed to invite beginner cyclists with a short ride that has a no drop policy. We also offer a second ride for the intermediate or advanced cyclist and change the routes up weekly. If there are enough interested cyclists, we are planning on starting a womens only ride.

Enough for tonight. Gotta eat!

Joel