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Store sells Harley, head to toe
By MELIA BOWIE, Times Staff Writer
PORT RICHEY -- McKendree Troxell is the kind of Harley-Davidson rider few would mess with. A toothless, spit-in-your-face, scream-when-I-want-to Harley rider. Except McKendree is 5 months old. The pink-cheeked infant and her parents are among a softer, younger breed of biker becoming the new face of a legendary company. Today's opening of a new megastore near U.S. 19 and State Road 54 shows the extent of the transformation. Gone is the picture of an oil-splattered shop crowded with bikes and bearded men in bandannas. Instead, the new 30,000-square-foot store is filled with rows of merchandise that McKendree (swaddled in a pink Harley-Davidson baby blanket with Harley-D bathing suit beneath) can cruise in on the hip of her mother. "It's going to be a place to hang out," said Big George Kazery, general manager of Gulf Coast Harley. Among the enticements are a pool table, free Barnie's coffee, Coca-Cola, doughnuts, dartboards, big-screen TVs and weekend barbecues. The store on 5 landscaped acres will have warehouse ceilings, hanging lights and stained concrete floors. Outside, porch chairs will be set up like at a Cracker Barrel. Motorcycles remain the main attraction. But Harley-brand merchandise, lots of it, distinguishes the new store from its much smaller predecessor on Leo Kidd Avenue in Port Richey. On sale is everything from boots and leather jackets to pretied bandannas and wineglasses -- accessories that attract new buyers lured less by the lifestyle and more by its look. The new products battle chrome parts for space on the Harley shopping list: commemorative wristwatches for $925, anniversary medallions, $225, and assorted clocks, jewelry, mugs, posters, sunglasses, baseball caps, belts, jumpers, pocket knives and pens. This is no small sideline. Merchandise made up 30 percent of last year's annual profits at Gulf Coast Harley. (Internationally, the company made $164-million in 2001 off "motorclothes" and accessories, about 5 percent of its profits.)
Gulf Coast's new location is designed to host major events and crowds of up to 5,000 people. The move was planned nearly two years ago after the much smaller Leo Kidd site suffered growing pains, which cost it 25 to 30 percent of its potential business. "The day has come and gone for the small dealership," said Gary Bang, vice president of Ferman Automotive Group's motorcycle division, which owns Gulf Coast Harley and two other Harley dealerships in Tampa and Brandon. Sales annually total $30-million. "It's going to be a destination store because of all the unique things we have." The new store will open with 100 new and used bikes and eventually carry a complete line of Buell sport bikes. In about six months, the store will also offer a fleet of rental Harleys. Ferman is investing $5-million to build and stock the new location. The Harley empire was born in 1903 when 21-year-old William S. Harley and 20-year-old Arthur Davidson created an American icon in a Milwaukee shed. The first bike, a racer, was sold to a schoolyard friend. Fast forward almost a century: The company's net sales for 2001 totaled $3.36-billion. Bikes generally run between $5,500 and $25,000. Despite today's boom, Harley sales were dipping in the 1980s, company archivist Tom Bolfert said. Two things brought it back: a better product and an untapped market. "Harley was heavily in debt . . . we were antiquated, overpriced and the quality was worse" he said. But by 1985 the company had regrouped under new ownership and perfected its product. Better bikes led to richer riders attracted by easier maintenance. Gulf Coast Harley estimates half its business in Pasco now comes from newer, upper-income riders, many of them doctors, lawyers and accountants. The wealthy want to ride, Kazery said. And he should know. Kazery outfitted Shaquille O'Neal with a custom Harley when Kazery worked at Daytona's Harley dealership in 1999. For the record: it was a stretch bike. A $65,000 Road King with handlebars 5 feet wide and a frame stretched 5 inches. Superman insignias graced the paint, the frame and even the speedometer. Although the company's corporate office reports the median age of Harley buyers has hovered around 44 or 45 years old since 1997, "you're starting to get a younger crowd," Kazery said. More women are riding, too, accounting for 9 percent of sales. They make up 42 percent of the 15,500 students who have graduated from Harley's Rider's Edge safety course. About 65 of the company's more than 600 dealerships offer the training course. Gulf Coast will be the first one in Tampa Bay to offer it, on its new training track. To succeed "you've got to change with the times," Kazery said. "If you don't, it will pass you by. That's what's happening to McDonald's -- baby boomers aren't eating there anymore." That explains Gulf Coast's change in marketing philosophy. "You'll see a lot of blue collar but also a lot of white collar. That's really changed," Kazery said. Take Brad and Lycia McDonald of New Port Richey. Lycia surprised her husband, who owns Baillie Roofing and Construction Inc., with a bike last Christmas. He has been on it ever since -- even riding the motorcycle to and from Pinellas County to pick up paperwork, color sheets and checks. He's not alone. "You get to talking and just about everybody you know has a Harley," he said. "The church I go to, the pastor owns a Harley. . . . The girl who does our banking at Wachovia, she and her husband ride a Harley." So what is it about the bike? "It's the history behind it," McDonald said. The freedom of it and the cachet. "You're not anybody if you own a bike (that's) not a Harley." Once there was "friction" between the new breed of bikers and older Harley enthusiasts, said Charlie Atkins, 69, a Harley rider for more than 50 years. There still is in some circles. White collar can equal yuppie. But times change. "Biking today is better today than it's been my whole life," Atkins said. "Everyone is friendlier." That includes police officers who never know whether they're pulling over a drifter, a judge, a CEO or even a a fellow officer. "There's some old-timers that are pretty much stuck in their ways and don't like new bikers. But I enjoy it," Atkins said. "I'm glad to see them out there; sooner or later they'll find their niche."
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