our biz: PROFESSIONAL WISDOM
Talk
with the
Business Titans
BY MISTY BROWNING
Biking and Business Guru- Joseph Russell
Owner of Flying Tire Bicycles
Joseph Russell and his daughter
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PARKER COUNTY TODAY: What do you do in your day-to-day?
JOSEPH RUSSELL: On a day-to-day basis, we offer bicycle sales,
service, and rentals. For us, customer service is our top priority,
so we repair bicycles from all stores, no matter the price. We
rent our bicycles on a daily or hourly basis.
We also sell fully-stocked picnic baskets for customers to take
with them when they rent our bicycles. Customers have their
choice of picnic baskets, including a Yesterday’s sandwich
basket, Cheese and Wine basket, and a Veggie Tray basket. Our
baskets bring people to our door [who] normally don’t come
in to a bicycle shop. Our slogan is ‘when was the last time you
went on a picnic?’ It’s a great way to get the kids and the older
generation out into nature.
I built my business on customer service being number one.
Whatever we have to do to make sure we provide the very best
customer service to our customers, we do. When we say we
appreciate your business, we really do appreciate your business.
We stay in business with old-fashioned personalized customer
service, and it’s our number one priority. I hire people who are
very passionate about bicycling and what they do. We have a
great counter person, Kristen, and salesman, Chris. Chris is not
pressuring and gives them advice. We will go out of our way to
provide personalized service to our customers, unlike the big
bike shops. We like to have our customers come in and have a
one-on-one relationship where the customers know our name
and we know the customer’s name.
PCT: How did you get into this business?
JR: I own service shops for Harleys, and bought some bicycle
frames to put 49CC lawn mower engines on the bicycles. After
doing that, I heard that Weatherford had put in paved bicycle
trails, in addition to the Mineral Wells State Trailway near
Weatherford. I found out they had no bicycle shop to service the
bicycle industry, so I decided to open a bicycle shop because
Weatherford is growing, and great demand for a business to
provide our services to the bicycle community.
The bicycle industry is here and I relate it to the Harley industry.
The people who ride Harleys are doctors, lawyers and electri-
cians. That’s how they are identified during the week. On the
weekend, they are on a motorcycle. That’s their passion, and
what they spend their money on. Bicyclists are the same way. In
addition to that, you have the everyday public that will buy. We
are right across the street from the park and bicycling as a grow-
ing sport because people are more conscious of their health. We
don’t just have hourly rates, but people in the outlying areas can
come in and rent the bike. We have rentals like club member-
ships on yearly rentals. Customers come in for one-time fee
equal to one rental a month for a year, anytime they want, to go
for a ride.
And the business is growing. We will soon partner with the
Giant Bicycle Corporation to be one of their corporate stores.
There are only eight in the United States, and we will redo the
store with their lighting and flooring. The business has been