Athens Bicycle, a 16-year-old bike shop in town, was one of 13 shops from Ohio named among the best.
Athens Bicycle, at 4 W. Stimson Ave. was tallied among the National Bicycle Dealers Association’s top roughly 300 bicycle shops in the United States.
Outside of a store in Medina, the other 12 Ohio shops on the list come from metropolitan areas in and around Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.
With company like that, Peter Kotses, co-owner of Athens Bicycle, said his store’s friendly service gave it the edge to join those larger operations in sharing the award, being one of two rural bicycle shops in Ohio to be on the list.
Among the 4,000 or so bicycle shops in the U.S., the NBDA picks less than 300 annually they say are tops in the country in no particular order, according to an Athens Bicycle release last week.
Kotses, who’s owned Athens Bicycle for 16 years, said he takes pride in his bicycle shops’ award.
“We were happy but not surprised,” Kotses said.
Each shop had to fill out an application explaining what sets them aside from the other bicycle stores around the U.S., according to the release. “Mystery shoppers” from the association visited and called stores, and viewed each shop’s website, Kotses said.
The application also asked shops to discuss each shop’s local volunteer efforts, educational opportunities for customers and efforts to promote local and national bicycle advocacy programs.
Athen’s Bicycle won over the National Bicycle Dealers Association with their secret shopper points. The secret shopping visited and called the store multiple times to test their customer service skills.
“Those interactions really shape the customer experience” Kostes said.
Kostes explained that their key to a successful business model is their involvement with folks in Athens to help further bicycle-related initiatives. Kotses and others recently helped bring a specialist from the League of American Bicyclists to review Athens’ bikeways.
The son of an OU psychology professor and cyclist, Kotses said he opened up his shop right when the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway was being extended from Athens up to Nelsonville.
Kostes maintained that expansion led to the explosion of bike fitness in Athens County and the belief that cycling can be a viable mode of transportation.
“We owe a lot of our success to the infrastructure that has been created over the last 16 years,” Kostes said.
Mayor Paul Wiehl, long a proponent of greater cycling accessibility, said he’s impressed by the local shops award. He said it’s indicative of the city as a whole.
“It shows we have a progressive statement and great bicycle and pedestrian city,” Wiehl said.
Ohio University West Green Residential Housing Director Mac Stricklen previously worked at the bicycle shop himself, and now lives nearby on the East Side. He still stops in and says “hi” whenever he can.
“I’ve known shop owners Pete Kotses and Meredith Erlewine since before they even opened the shop,” Stricklen said.
Stricklen wasn’t surprised Athens Bicycle won the award, saying the two owners “genuinely love bikes and people who ride bikes.”
“I never felt pressure to make a sale,” Stricklen said of his time as an employee. He explained it was more about getting to know the customer and making sure they got the type of bike they wanted.
He praised local bike shops, and Athens Bicycle in particular, saying they are a big reason that cycling has gotten big in Athens, by his judgment.
“They’re people who are committed to making cycling better, to making Athens better, and to making Athens better through cycling,” Stricklen said.
