U.S. auto sales are off to a strong start this year, continuing their brisk pace from late 2011. Chrysler had its best January in four years.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.”
