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Published: April 14, 2009 3:00 a.m.

Cycling, fitness shop closes

Economy ‘part of it’; ‘ambitious’ strategy, loss of deals factors

Sherry Slater
The Journal Gazette
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Samuel Hoffman | The Journal Gazette

Koehlinger Cycling & Fitness, on Illinois Road since 1992, has closed its doors.

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Timeline
1913 – Arthur Koehlinger founds the company, selling locks and bicycles downtown

1928 – Koehlinger splits the business and sells it to his sons: Win Koehlinger buys the bicycle part; Stamford Koehlinger buys the lock part

1950s – Win, who became known as “Uncle Win” to TV viewers, adds toys

1966 – Dean Koehlinger graduates from college and joins the bicycle business

1971 – Koehlinger stops selling toys

1974 – Koehlinger builds a store in Georgetown area

1979 – Dean Koehlinger, who had taken over the company, builds a store on South Anthony Boulevard

Early 1980s – Koehlinger adds fitness equipment

1985 – Koehlinger builds a store on Coldwater Road

1992 – Koehlinger moves its South Anthony Boulevard store to a building on Illinois Road

Late 1990s – Starts a commercial fitness business, selling equipment to fitness clubs and hospitals

2003 – Moves the Coldwater store to Dupont Road and makes it fitness-only; opens fitness-only store in Indianapolis; opens Fort Wayne and Indianapolis warehouses

2007 – Sells the commercial fitness business to a Chicago company; closes the warehouses and two fitness-only stores

2009 – Closes last retail store, 5412 Illinois Road

Koehlinger Cycling & Fitness has ridden into the sunset. The store at 5412 Illinois Road is being emptied, and the building is available for lease.

Dean Koehlinger on Monday attributed his company’s demise to several factors.

“We had a little bit of a bad cycle, a little bit of bad luck and a little bit of overaggressiveness,” he said.

An expansion into selling fitness equipment to hospitals and fitness clubs was just starting to pay off a couple of years ago when Koehlinger’s supplier decided to start selling directly to commercial customers. In hindsight, Koehlinger said, he got too ambitious when he tried a retail model that relied only on fitness and didn’t include bicycles. The mix makes the store less seasonal, he said.

In another blow, Trek, a popular bicycle brand, recently struck a deal with competitor Summit City Bicycles & Fitness for dealership rights, taking that agreement away from Koehlinger.

And then there’s the recession, which was the final straw.

“I don’t want to blame the economy,” Koehlinger said. “It certainly was a part of it, but it’s not the whole story by any stretch.”

David Coar, manager of Summit City Bicycles, said sales there have increased 11 percent compared to 2008.

The retailer is considering a second location to serve residents in the southwest part of Allen County. Summit City’s only store is at 3801 Lima Road. Koehlinger has been directing former customers there for service.

Including Koehlinger, the store employed eight full time and five part time. Most have already found other jobs, but Koehlinger, 64, is still looking. He described himself as having too much energy and ambition to retire.

Koehlinger Security Systems, owned by Kim Koehlinger, is a separate company that evolved from the original business and was not affected by the closure. That fact helps blunt Dean Koehlinger’s pain. He said he is melancholy but “trying to keep a stiff upper lip.”

“The hundred years,” he said of the anniversary of his grandfather’s business coming in 2013, “that will happen.”

sslater@jg.net

Source: Dean Koehlinger