As soothing as any of the numerous mom and pop shops in Eugene — the bookstores, the cafés — bike shops set themselves apart only for the uncanny ability to make customers feel dumb. It’s good business in this city, in this region actually, but it can be intimidating for some to stroll into a bike shop and try to wrap their heads around the intricacies of a bicycle.
Blue Heron understands this, and being so near to the University of Oregon campus, it often faces students new to school and cycling, who may be new to the city and region, as well. As deftly as they can retool a bike’s brake cables and return it in the same day, the staffers also go out of their way to make customers feel welcome.
“That’s the key,” says Susan Kelley, the store’s owner since 1992. “You can’t work here unless you like people. We aren’t intimidating, which I think bike shops can be for people.”
It’s that sort of effort that has helped Blue Heron gain a steady following despite advertising very little. Word of mouth has brought many cyclists, new and old, into the shop, greeted by Kelley’s 9-year-old Papillion, Bella, ambling between the merchandise. The store owners say they always try to fix a bike first instead of offering to sell a newer one.
“A lot of other guys just want to get you parts and get out of there,” says Jesse Wilson, 23, a new face around the shop for about the last year. “I’ve brought in some crappy bikes other places would have tried to just turn away. I don’t need a new racing bike, just need a way to get around town.”
Scrunched between Caspian Mediterranean and Yogurt Extreme, Blue Heron has experienced something of a renaissance in the last few years. It’s been stocked with road bikes for an older generation while fixed gear bikes of all styles have helped reel in a newer generation.
“Sometimes we’re ahead of the curve,” Kelley says. Blue Heron has sold fixed gear bikes for the past 15 years.
As strong as the cycling community has been in Eugene, Kelley says that the rise in popularity of bicycles has helped the store grow, literally. It has doubled in size after knocking down the wall of the next door establishment that has been a turnstile for businesses like an imports store, a ballet studio and a couple student travel agencies.
Blue Heron has won Best of Campus bike shop three years running now, and the staff is proud of the hat trick. “It’s nice to be recognized,” says Louis Orsini, a longtime employee who’s been at Blue Heron since it was called Pedal Power in the ’80s. “I take it as we’re doing a good job. Ultimately when you’re in the bike business, you do the best you can with every bike that comes through. Nobody gets rich in this business so it’s a passion more than anything else.”