Hollywood Cycles... NOW OPEN!!

[JBergland]

Hollywood Cycles is now open for business with bikes, product, and service that's hard to beat!! Mr. Henderson will be specializing in mid-to-high end road, TT, and mountain bikes. Hollywood will also be doing custom single speeds and one-offs on request. If you have an idea, chances are Hollywood can make it a reality!!

Bikes and brands at Hollwood Cycles...

* Bianchi
* Merlin
* Salsa
* HED
* Louis Garneau
* Mavic

... along with many others. Stop by in person and check things out for yourself!! 722 west 98th street, Bloomington (North-west corner of 98th and Lyndale). (612) 384-9878.

JB

[FSSS]

(North-west corner of 98th and Lyndale)

Isn't that where the old REI used to be???

[JBergland]

Isn't that where the old REI used to be???

Yup, right in that general area. He's right between the drycleaners and men's clothing store. Signage is up (Hollywood Cycles) so it should be easy to find it.

JB

[manual63]

I stopped by there on my way home yesterday. It's a cool little shop.....like most of the small shops around here.....it has some soul. I talked to the guy, forgot him name already, and he seems really happy and dedicated. It's cool to see these small shops open up. I am much more willing to support them because they are the sport. These guys live to be a part of cycling, not just make a buck off of it. So these are the people that are going to give us the best and most honest service.

I am kind of a One on One shopper, but I will do my best to spread my wealth amongst the cool guys. I wish him luck in the bicycle shop world.

[Tex]

These guys live to be a part of cycling, not just make a buck off of it. So these are the people that are going to give us the best and most honest service.
I couldn't agree more. It's just too bad most people do all their shopping through Nashbar, and Performance and the little guy just can't compete with that. In my twelve years of working in the bicycle industry I watch too many shops fold because the consumer saved a buck buying from mail order. I know, I know, it's just a matter of "survival of the fittest" or whatever the economic majors want to call it, but it's still a pretty sad thing. When all that matters is getting the best price, the only ones who will survive will be the big WallMart type of stores, and all the individuality of the small shops will be lost. Just like the all the little micro brews we've lost over the years, just because you can get a case of Bud for $5.
Sorry about this little rant, but I just wanted to throw this out there. Support the little guy, go in and ask them if they can match a price. Sometimes you might get lucky. But from what I've seen, the price that the mail order places are selling the part for is cheaper than the little guy can buy it for. Therein lies the problem, when the big guy can buy stock by the trainload, and the little guy can't even afford to stock the Chi-Chi items. How can he compete? I don't have the answer to that question, if I did, I would probably open a my own bike shop. Again, sorry to be a wet blanket on what should be a great celebration.
Jay, I can't wait to be in the area down there, and check out the new place. Pretty cool, and good luck.

[GearDaddy]

I stopped by and even bought something. It will be interesting to see what unique brand of service or product Mr. Hollywood will bring. It appears from the outset that he will have focus on higher end, e.g. custom builds and that sort of thing.

It seems like competition could be stiff, with the new Eriks up by 494, the existing Penn cycle down the road, and other newer shops like One-on-One and Gravity Labs, etc. I hope it does well. He certainly seems to living a dream. Apparently he's no newbie to the Bike shop biz, having been at Flanders for a long time and more recently with the Gravity Labs/Silver Cycling.

I wonder... has he burned some bridges in going out on his own?

[SPR]

I stopped by there on my way home yesterday. It's a cool little shop.....like most of the small shops around here.....it has some soul. I talked to the guy, forgot him name already, and he seems really happy and dedicated. It's cool to see these small shops open up. I am much more willing to support them because they are the sport. These guys live to be a part of cycling, not just make a buck off of it. So these are the people that are going to give us the best and most honest service.

I am kind of a One on One shopper, but I will do my best to spread my wealth amongst the cool guys. I wish him luck in the bicycle shop world.

You probably talked to the proprietor himself, "Mr Hollywood" as he is going to be a one person operation. I stopped in last week and only knowing Jay through his cycling achievments over the past many years we had a good conversation.
His story and how the shop evolved are quite interesting. He impressed me as taking a very bold step by going into business for himself and fulfilling a passion of his life that he so truly enjoys. I really wish him the best of luck and am glad to see his shop open so close to my residence.
Now I need to get back there and get one of those cool t's.:banana:

[SickBoy]

You name the shop, 'Wood has probably wrenched for them. My old roommate had tons of stories about doing backdoor repairs for favors with Hollywood back at Now Bikes, way back in the day when they had more than 2 shops. (yeah, Ekstrand, I used to live with hoyer until he got too dysfunctional for me, that being last september)

It's cool to see him out doing his own thing now and I hope it works out for the best for him.

[Little D]

Funny, I met Hollywood through Hoyer back at Not Sports also. Got a few good stories about both of them.

[SickBoy]

After living with Hoyer for two and a half years I have more Hoyer stories than you can shake a stick at...

Man, was that apartment full of bikes. I have seven, he had four of his own plus at least two project bikes most of the time... in a tiny 2BR uptown apartment...

[Little D]

Ha. I used to live next to him when he still lived with his wife person. His garage was full of bikes. (Kind of like mine now) He pretty much got me hooked on Mt Biking back in 91. Was he living with you when he got two DWI's in the same night?

[SickBoy]

I never heard that it was 2 in the same night. LOL. No, that was before I lived with him I guess. His wife person is insane. She would get drunk and come over and cause problems after they split. We had to call the cops once. She even keyed hoyer's GF's car.