Serge Tremblay, founder and owner of Boutique Le Pédalier, built a cycle of trust that kept on rolling.
From his father’s small backyard shed in Quebec City’s northwestern suburbs to its current chic, 3storey, 4,000-square-foot location in Wendake, Quebec, Le Pédalier Bike & Board shop has earned the trust of Vélo aficionados for miles around! “ was always convinced that providing customers with the products they really need, offering the bikes that are best suited to them, and enlightening and advising them about the purchase they’re about to make, would enhance their experience as a customer and, ultimately, their appreciation of cycling. “They would then be happy about their deal and would soon let their ‘entourage’ know about it, recommending us with confidence to their friends and family members. As this ‘cycle of trust’ kept on rolling, the business grew and the store became what it is now,” explains Serge Tremblay, founder and owner of Boutique Le Pédalier, with a sparkle in his eye. Although he was an accomplished cyclist, nothing had prepared young Tremblay for his career as a bicycle retailer. Prior to Le Pédalier’s modest beginnings in his father’s backyard, Tremblay worked as an automotive mechanic in a garage some 25 kilometres away from the family home –– a distance he was happy to cycle every day of the week. But breathing in engine exhaust, car paint, and solvent fumes got old quickly. Taking advantage of a new employment re-orientation program, he enrolled in an intensive 650-hour sport equipment maintenance course featuring 15 different activities, with strong emphasis on skiing and cycling. In June 1985, upon graduating as a new technician Tremblay bought himself all the tools he needed to start working on bikes, and Boutique Le Pédalier was born! He was so passionate and enthusiastic about his new job that he designed and created his own ski-tuning machine, already showing the determination that would prove to be crucial to the success of his commercial venture. Encouraged by the results of his first season of operation, the young entrepreneur found a new location for his bike shop, a 30’ 16’ elongated “closet” off Wendake’s Bastien Blvd., a busy thoroughfare on the outskirts of Quebec City. Cycles Lambert, impressed, by Tremblay’s debut, offered Le Pédalier Monaco and Mikado bikes as their first dealer for these brands. Sales kept going up and in 1988, Kona, Diamond Back and Gary Fisher joined in. During the fall of that year, Tremblay and his crew attended their first ExpoCycle/BTAC show, making more business contacts and expanding their product line, adding clothing, accessories and skateboards to the sales floor. But the place was so small that bikes were displayed outside and brought in at the end of each day! In 1991, the little shop moved next door, to a 1,600-square-foot space. In order to diversify their products, Marin, Mongoose and Marinoni bicycles were added to the list of stocked brands. In 1994, in an effort to sustain sales year-round, snowboards began to be sold at Le Pédalier. The frenzy about bikes, especially mountain bikes, during the 1990’s translated into rapid growth. Surf was up but the wave was sometimes hard to follow: “These were crazy years, with mountain bikes going all over the place! There were so many innovations — not necessarily improvements. Sometimes we had to rebuild the bikes almost entirely to keep up with the pace [or to compensate for a manufacturer’s bad choice of components] as new stuff was popping up every few weeks or so. It was tough for sure,” reminisced Tremblay. Having renovated the store a couple of times, Tremblay and his Le Pédalier crew — there are more or less a dozen on the payroll — transformed a spacious 2-storey shoe store into a hip bike and board shop in 2005. Conveniently, it’s also in Wendake, only three doors down on Bastien Blvd. With road cycling in high demand these days, Felt has joined the product line-up. And to complete the range of winter sports products, locally produced snowshoes –– Wendake is a Canadian “haut-lieu” of “la raquette” –– along with Elan and Völkl skis were also introduced to Le Pédalier. Is Tremblay satisfied? The answer is yes! Now selling 1,000 bikes a year, Le Pédalier has reached just the right size to accomplish its mission of providing
Pierre Bouchard
Pierre Bouchard
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by Pierre Bouchard
LE PÉDALIER PERSONALIZED SERVICE SINCE 1985 22
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BIKE TRADE CANADA SPRING 2012
www.pedalmag.com
www.pedalmag.com
Le Pédalier's hip and spacious 2-storey bike and board shop in Wendake, QC
customers with the best possible products for an uplifting cycling experience that hopefully become a habit and then an addiction. “If we don’t have the product that suits a customer, we would rather send them to another retailer than sell them anything in store that might fail at delivering a great ride! This is what I teach my staff. That might sound crazy, but it’s the only way we can gain our customers’ confidence and be assured of their satisfaction. And we’re seeing the results: for the last couple of years or so, we see the children of our first customers, Boutique Le Pédalier now young adults, entering our shop and 99, Boulevard Bastien trusting us with their needs for cycling, skiWendake, Quebec, G0A 4V0 ing, or snowboarding . . . the business is www.pedalier.ca thriving and this makes us proud!” (418) 842-2734 Well done, Serge. SPRING 2012 BIKE TRADE CANADA
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