VICTOR, Idaho (BRAIN) — When it came time to list their store, Fitzgerald's Bicycles, for sale earlier this year, retailers Scott and Janine Fitzgerald took an unconventional approach.
The Fitzgeralds made a video of them placing a call with the Jackson, Wyoming on-air radio classifieds show, "Trash and Treasure", to advertise that their shop was for sale, ignoring the show's 'no businesses on Trash and Treasure' rule and frustrating the host.
Retailer Derrick Nobman, who formerly operated fat bike specialty shop, Cycle Haven, in Long Island, New York, saw the video and immediately contacted the Fitzgeralds.
"I was familiar with Fitzy, I had heard him speak at Frostbike. I knew buying a shop like his was a once in a lifetime opportunity," said Nobman, who opened Cycle Haven inside his family's 105 year-old hardware store in 2012. "We pounced and we didn't think we were worthy, but it's just one of those things on the timeline of life that just worked out."
The sale was finalized in early June, and Nobman and his wife, Liz, sold the hardware store and transferred Cycle Haven's inventory to Fitzgerald's in three cross-country trips. Nobman said most of the inventory he had as a fat bike and bikepacking-focused retailer dovetailed nicely with Fitzgerald's existing product line. Fitzgerald's carries Salsa, Trek and Pivot, has a busy repair department and operates a coffee bar in the front of the 3,200 square-foot building, which the Fitzgeralds still own.
"We closed Cycle Haven, but it will live on, just not in New York," Nobman said. "We were always going for a Western-style shop in metro New York and had to work really hard to sell the outdoor lifestyle that everyone here fully embraces."
The Fitzgeralds will work in the store through the end of August to aid in the transition.
"We were thinking about selling for awhile, we wanted some change in life," said Scott Fitzgerald, who originally opened the shop in Jackson, Wyoming 13 years ago and later moved it to nearby Victor, Idaho. "We're so happy to have found the right fit to take over. We feel fortunate we found a couple who wants to carry on the tradition—and through the process, we've also become friends."
Fitzgerald also said he and Janine plan to stay close to the industry and are currently exploring their options. The couple recently published a children's book "B is for Bicycle", which was successfully funded on Kickstarter in December and will soon be available through QBP.
