Tom Yum Noodle soup and othe staff favorites

For the last few months I've been slowly updating the employee profile section of greggscycles.com. It has been a bit of a slow job but very interesting. Having been here for a number of years I've seen a lot of employees come and go. It seems that every time I meet someone new, if they ask where I work, they'll ask me if I knew so and so who worked at Gregg's years ago. I guess if a company has been around for 75 years and I've been here for 1/10th of that (maybe a little more) that'll happen. Usually I can remember the person or at least the name. Well, since I've been adding to the employee profiles I've been learning all kinds of great stuff about our employees.

Adam likes to "Ride it like you stole it", Brian used to own his own painting company, Garrett was raised by a pack of wolves and John is a real composer! With over 100 employees in three stores we've got a bit of everything.

I'm still working on it and there are a lot more people that I need to get up. I've got a good number of the Greenlake employees up and a fair number of Bellevue employees but nothing from Alderwood just yet. So check back once in a while and see who the new gal or guy is, and if you want to leave a little note for them. After all, our people make us great!

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Bike Share in Bellevue?

A couple of days ago I got a call from a developer in Bellevue. Turns out they have filed a "Request for Information" with the City of Bellevue concerning a Bike Share program. The first part of the process is setting up a meeting with concerned parties (by invitation apparently) and talk about what a Bike Share would look like in Bellevue, what what need to happen to make it work and to start to figure out what the logistics would be. Basically to get enough information to see if it will be possible.

The Bike Share idea is not new, it has been an evolution. Bike Share programs are regaining some momentum in the last few years with programs in Europe that have been described as very successful. Because of this the idea is once again catching on in the states with cites such as Portland, Washington DC, Chicago and now Bellevue.

The meeting was an interesting group of people with different interests. There were people from the City of Bellevue, from King County Parks, Cascade Bike Club, Bike Alliance as well as local developers. There are an estimated 3000 housing units going in to the 36 square block area that is downtown Bellevue in the next few years and everyone is a concerned about traffic in the area. Adding a bike share program is seen as a way to possibly reduce the amount of cars on the road in the downtown area.

As you can imagine there are a number of "roadblocks" to negotiate to make something like this happen. Downtown Bellevue is not a bike friendly place in any one's estimation and it will take it a while to get there. Nevertheless it is encouraging to see local developers and city government taking a pro-active approach to future traffic issues and even more encouraging to see that bikes are being seen as a part of the solution.

This is all in the very early stages but I'll keep posting about it as it goes.

Our People Make us Great

In my last post I talked about the big changes going on with Gregg's Cycle going forward. We received just a couple of comments on the post and the first one was a touch critical. Now, I wouldn't put it out there if I didn't want to hear criticism. As is the case with most blogs, I welcome all feedback positive and negative. This particular comment mentioned the soul of our business and the the soul of the building, specifically the Bellevue Store. I understand that many of us like the idea of an old, cramped, wood floored bike shop with cool old bikes hanging from the ceiling and the smell of chain oil. In fact I remember being disappointed when R.E.I moved from it's old location on Capital Hill to it's new "Flagship" location, I think I even mentioned to a friend that it might have "lost it's soul". But the truth is that a building is a building and the soul of the business comes from it's people. And we have the best people in the industry.

Along with 100's of years of combined experience in the bike business our employees support cycling on a local and regional level, come to work every day ready answer questions, turn wrenches, find random parts and generally help people have fun doing what we all consider to be the best activity around, riding a bike. We've been doing this for 75 years. Buildings will come and go but the soul Gregg's Cycle will remain intact because of the people that choose to work here.

Gregg's Picnic 2007

Every year we have a Summer picnic here at Gregg's. It can get pretty hectic around here in the summer and people look forward to the picnic to take a bit of a break, get to know people in the other stores and just kind of hang out. This year has been espcially hectic as we've been crazy with construction and moving. So the picnic is a way for Gregg's to say thanks to all of our employees. By the looks of everyone had a great time!

Bellevue Store Open For Business!

It took a few long nights and a lot of work from a lot of people but the largest bike shop on the East Side is up and running. With 11,000 square feet to work with the new Gregg's Bellevue Cycle has enough room to to keep up with the amazing growth going on all over Bellevue.It took a few long nights and a lot of work from a lot of people but the largest bike shop on the East Side is up and running. With 11,000 square feet to work with the new Gregg's Bellevue Cycle has enough room to to keep up with the amazing growth going on all over Bellevue.

The Night Before Opening

The Finishing Touches!

Here are a few pictures of the sales floor and our hardworking staff while we were still getting the store ready.

The main sales floor has room for hundreds of bikes ready for test rides , as well as a huge selection of clothing, parts and accessories.Store manager, Tony along with his staff take in a working lunch while enjoying the great views from the front windows.

We're Close Now!

It's been a few weeks since I've seen the new Gregg's Bellevue Cycle location and when I saw it again I has amazed. I suppose I shouldn't have been, we're planning to open the doors to the public sometime in April so it should be close to finished right? And it is! Here are a few pictures of the building inside and out.
This picture shows the view from what is the first floor. At this point (and things are always flexible at this point!) this will be the bike sales floor. This picture is taken from the east (Bellevue Way) side of the building looking north.

I know, not a very exciting picture, but the elevator will become a very necessary part of a two story bike shop. The service department is located on the second floor of the building and this full size freight elevator will make it a breeze to get your bike up to get it's tune up.

Here, our owner, Stan Gregg and our office manager, Nancy are busy checking out the bathroom in what will become the employee lounge and break room.

Here we are looking down the stairs into what will become our "Grand Foyer". We're planning on making this a very inviting area with displays, cycling information a place to sit and relax while others might be shopping or maybe watch a cycling event on one of the large TV's planned to be in the store. Maybe there will even be a little espresso down here? Like I said, it's all a little flexible at this point!

This is the upper floor which will house our parts and accessories along with our service area. The area you're looking at here may also have kids bikes , trailers or joggers. It's a huge space and we're looking forward to filling it!

The whole store features great views of downtown Bellevue.

Here's a look at the main stairway on the first floor which will be the home to a huge selection of bikes.

Another look at the second floor , the parts and accessories area. Also, behind that window will be our conference room. Great for meetings and clinics.

They are just starting to put the finishing touches on the outside of the building. Our new signage should be up any day now.

This is a view of the back of the store where we also have great windows and a second story employee deck for lunches during the sunny months.

We're really excited about the new Bellevue location. A lot of people have put a lot of work and thought into the planning and building of what will become one of the premier bike shops in the country.

A View from the Air

Here's a great picture of the new Bellevue store in it's current state of completion.

Bellevue Construction Photos