This shop has served Wichita bicyclists for 60 years. Now it’s closing

Alan Keimig will occasionally go down to the basement of Tom Sawyer Bicycle Shop to look for parts. Keimig, 67, owns the south Wichita bike shop that’s stood on a corner of Broadway and Mount Vernon for decades.

As he stands in the basement, memories from his 50-year tenure at the business will flood his mind.

“Occasionally, I’ll have a flashback,” Keimig said. “I’ll go down there (basement) and we have some old bikes hanging down there ... say like an early ‘70s Schwinn Varsity or something like that.”

“I’ll see that and I’m like, wow,” Keimig added. “It just takes me back you know, I remember seeing this bike 50 years ago.”

On Sunday, Keimig announced via Facebook that the 60-year-old shop will close soon. He sat down in the lobby, surrounded by bicycles of all sizes, as he recalled his time at the business.

Keimig was a 17-year-old student at Wichita West High in 1972, the same year he started working for Tom and Louise Sawyer, the original owners of the shop that was founded in 1963.

He acquired the job through a school program that helped students to learn about business and find a job. The program set up with an interview with the Sawyers.

“Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer both liked me, and so they offered me the job,” Keimig said. “I started, like, the next day.”

From there on, Keimig learned the changing trends in the bicycling industry, which was booming in the ‘70s.

“In the early ‘70s, we were way more busy because we were in the middle of the bicycle boom,” Keimig said. “Everybody decided they wanted bikes for exercise and transportation.”

“Bikes just got really big during that time,” he said.

Various styles of bicycles came along through the shop. Bicycle moto cross (BMX) bikes in the early ‘70s, mountain bikes in the early ‘80s and low rider bikes in the ‘90s, Keimig recalled.

The Sawyers retired in 1998 and sold the business to their longtime employee. Keimig led the bicycle shop for the next 20-plus years, what he described as a “just a good thing all around.”

“It’s just enjoyable, you know?” Keimig said. “We see a lot of people, especially in this neighborhood, that ride (bikes) a lot.”

Bike restoration has increasingly been on the rise in recent years, and customers come into the shop looking for parts.

“They’re (customers) fixing up the old cruisers, doing some complete restorations and making them look brand new,” Keimig said. “They’re kind of addictive, you know?... Next thing you know, you have a garage full of bikes.”

In those 20 years, not much has changed besides technology speeding up the process of getting products and parts, he said.

One thing that remains constant are the loyal customers.

“It’s been fun,” Keimig said. “I was telling someone the other day, ‘I may not be as successful as the world counts success, but it’s been enjoyable.’ ”

“I hope that I’ve been a good influence on people that have worked with us,” Keimig added.

Keimig says his age was a factor in the closing of the shop, as well as changes in how people shop nowadays.

“I’ve been thinking about this for over a few months now,” Keimig said “Business has also changed a lot in the last few years. There’s a whole lot more people willing to buy stuff online.”

A specific closing date will be announced on the shop’s Facebook page. Everything has a 10% discount and whatever is left over will be auctioned off. Details for the auction will also be announced via social media, Keimig said.