Rothacker Reviews

Tampa Bicycle Shops: University Bicycle Center

Muhammad Ali taught her everything she needs to know in dealing with salespeople...

Rosemary and I were duped by a car salesman in 1992.  It caused pain, anguish and left a permanent scar on our perceptions of salespeople.  Rosemary developed a calling that day that is enacted every single time we do business that involves a salesperson - it's a call to battle, a call to war...a call to survive.

We recently began to shop for bicycles.  So one day Rosemary dons her Kevlar vest, straps up her nine millimeter and sheathes her hunting knife in an ankle strap.  Excessive?  Yeah, a bit.  She rarely uses these weapons though, as a good hand to hand dismantling of a salesman is much more rewarding.

We walked into University Bicycle Center that day and Eli approached to help.  I realized in quick order that Eli did not fit the model of our stereotypical salesman.  Still waters run deep however, and Rosemary did not.  We put Eli through a good hour of information-providing and bike demonstrations.  While Muhammad Ali parleyed with Eli, I took notice of the store's environment.

UBC was a bustle of activity.  No downturns in the economy visible that day.  There had to be four or five sales associates on the floor taking care of customers.  In spite of this, no less than eight people approached Eli with questions.  I suspect that he didn't want to take his eye off of Rosemary for a fear of a right hook, but he handled each inquiry with eloquence and respect.

Fast forward - we bought two bikes for the following three reasons:

1. UBC ownership.  Folks like Eli do not weave their magic in a vacuum.  Someone (ownership) lets Eli be Eli.  We have noticed this trait in subsequent visits to UBC in other associates as well.  Rosemary and I do not view UBC as a one time shop.  We plan on coming back.  With a combined sixty plus years in retail experience, we have learned that we get superior customer service from well treated folks like Eli.
2. Eli's patience with us illiterate, future bicyclists.
3. UBC's willingness to go above and beyond.  We had some logistics to work out involving the bikes after the sale.  They called the owner's dad to come to the store (while he was in the middle of doing something else), pick up one of the bikes and deliver it to our house in a very restricted window of time.  And Eli offered to meet us at the store on Sunday (UBC is closed on Sundays) to accommodate another need.

If you have any need whatsoever, that involves bicycles, from repairs to accessories to clothes to new bikes, Rosemary and I recommend that you go to UBC today!  University Bicycle Center.

The Economy: Doom or Boom?

Well, clearly we are not in a boom economy.  To a degree however, I believe that a perception of a doom economy is a mindset. 

Media:  "The sky is falling.  The sky is falling.  The sky is falling.  The sky is falling.  The sky is falling".

"Hey Jack, is the sky falling?"

"Yeah, the sky is falling."

A couple of weeks ago, Rosemary and I visited three bicycle shops in the area.  The sky clearly wasn't falling.  We were in each store an average of fifteen minutes.  In that time the clerk who waited on us mentioned, unprovoked, how busy they had been before and after Christmas.  This registered as very significant because obviously this was what was on their minds. 

Note to bike shop owners:  We ended up purchasing our bikes from a person who, in spite of the crowd, was friendly and helpful (more on this shop in another post).  In one New Tampa shop, whose name I will not mention, Rosemary and I stood directly in front of the counter, only to watch the clerks wait on two people who came in after us.  I didn't notice one person working there that day who I thought wanted to be there.

Also, an acquaintance of mine mentioned how he and his wife had shopped in a large Orlando hobby store and it was wall to wall people.  The person who waited on them had commented how slammed with business the store had been.

Finally, in one last unscientific observation - there was a RV show at the Florida State Fairgrounds last week.  Newspapers reported how unusually brisk traffic was and that quite a few RV's were selling each day.

Undoubtedly were are not in the best of economic times right now.  I choose to remain positive however, and not buy into the media-induced hype of a bad economy. 

Magic

39,000 people read it.  Four percent travel down the hole.  I found this down that hole...of course you'd have to look around some once in the hole to find this.  It's a magical ole world Hobbes...

One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

Design: Why I Like it

Do I like it cause I like it?  Or do I like it cause I'm supposed to like it?

I was reading the chapter titled Fibonacci Sequence in Universal Principles of Design this morning when struck by the following lightening bolt:

Are such patterns considered aesthetic because people find them to be more aesthetic or because people have been taught to believe they are aesthetic?

This question relates to the Fibonacci Sequence (read the section under applications unless you love math)- a sequence of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers.

Although I love design, I've had no formal training.  (one of my first articulations on design).  In the last few years I've accumulated quite a few books on design, perused quite a few Web sites and subscribe to quite a few design magazines.  As I come to be rather fond of industrial, graphic and print design, I try to continue to learn more.

In pursuit of design education, I've encountered many classically trained, technical and artistic people.  Most of the time I cannot understand what they are talking about but there's this little voice in my head that keeps telling me how I'll continue to slip on the slippery slopes of shallow-ism if I don't git a handle on the historical and technical aspects of design...so I do try.

Early on however, I came to the realization that no matter how many design experts touted the aesthetic and functional importance of objects like this chair, I would stick to my guns.  If I like something, I like it.  If I do not, I do not try to like it.  It really isn't any more technical than that.