POCATELLO — The new owners of a downtown Pocatello bike shop are cycling through many ideas to become more involved in the local community.
Oregon Trail Bikes, located at 216 N. Second Ave. in Historic Downtown Pocatello, recently changed hands and new owners Randee and Brett Waker and Jason Simons are excited about new opportunities to help the business continue to grow.
“I’m a Pocatello native who was born and raised here but I moved to Phoenix about 15 years ago,” Randee said. “I met my husband there and that’s where we know Jason from. He was working at our home bike shop there and we became really close.”
Randee said she and her husband moved back to Pocatello about two years ago when her daughter was about 18 months old so that they could be closer to family.
“I definitely envision my daughter being able to ride her bike in the neighborhood and those kinds of things I didn’t really envision being possible for us in Phoenix.”
Randee said the former owner of the bike shop Adam Artner approached them about a year ago to gauge their interest in acquiring the shop but they were expecting their second child and everything felt just a little overwhelming.
“He approached us again after a few other potential sales fell through and the deal was essentially too good to be true,” Randee said. “It was too good for us to pass up. But because he works for U-Haul corporate we knew that we couldn’t work full-time at the shop so we asked our friend Jason if he wanted to come and partner with us.”
Randee said Simons was pretty much all-in on joining forces with them as soon they talked about it, adding that randomly the father of Simons’ girlfriend, Bri Garrett, lives here as well so it made the decision to relocate a little easier.
“I'm very excited to be here,” Simons said. “I've been friends with Brett for some years, and he was looking into buying this shop. I have been working in shops and running shops for about 20 years. I kind of came in as the experienced guy with the knowledge. I am the day-to-day operations guy who will be managing things.”
Simons first spent some time running a bike shop in South Dakota before relocating to Phoenix. He says the cycling environment in South Dakota is similar to East Idaho in that there is a fairly robust trail system and a relatively short season to ride.
“It started with me sweeping the floors, learning the basics like changing inner tubes and I just worked up through the years and shops until I was managing shops in Arizona,” Simons said. “We've been kind of living nomadically, my girlfriend and I, over the last few years in an old converted ambulance, and decided to settle down a little. This opportunity looks like a really great place to start.”
The Walkers and Simons obtained the shop this month. She said the loan process was almost like getting another part-time job with all of the paperwork that was involved.
“That’s probably the biggest obstacle that we have had to overcome,” she said.
Randee credited Artner for establishing a successful business, adding that she doesn’t anticipate much will change with the general operations of the shop. One thing she hopes to improve is the shop’s brand and visibility by engaging with as many local events as possible and forming stronger bonds with the community.
“Adam was an amazing former owner,” she said. “He was a fantastic bike mechanic and built this shop into what it is today, which was a profitable business for the five years he owned it.”
She continued, “We hope to continue that mechanical expertise moving forward but what we hope to change is being more involved in the community.”
Randee said that she envisions getting into the local schools and providing small seminars on bike safety.
“I cannot tell you how many times I see kids riding down the wrong side of the roads without helmets on around here,” she said. “Another thing is, traditionally, the shop is a mountain bike shop and we would really like to see the adventure cycling side of biking come into the shop. This means we would like to help people gear-up their bikes for bike camping, where you're taking everything that you're going to be camping with on your bike.”
Randee said she is also hopeful to become more involved with some of the local races that are in town.
“The next big thing that is coming up is the Pocatello Fall Ultra, which is on Sept. 7,” she said. “We will be there but we got involved a little too late to be on any of the promotional materials. We’re also interested in doing some women’s mountain biking clinics where we can teach women how to do bike maintenance on their own with their own tools.”
She added, “We really hope to have a lot of female energy in the bike shop. I feel like it can be an intimidating environment for women, especially for those looking to come and buy a bike.”
Randee said some of the most popular mountain bike brands are currently available for purchase at the shop, including Pivot, Transition, Orbea, Salsa, Otso and Marin.
“We also want to start carrying more outdoor apparel,” she said. “I feel like there aren't a ton of options for biking apparel, especially for kids, and we are looking at carrying some brands that are manufactured right here in Idaho.”
Randee encourages anyone who hasn’t stopped into Oregon Trail Bikes to come and check out the shop and chat with her, Brett or Simons about anything related to the cycling community.
“Our mission statement is to cultivate community and good times through cycling and the love of the outdoors,” she said. “We’re looking forward to this opportunity and we can’t wait to see all the loyal and new customers.”
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