The key and lock portion of the business will continue on.
Jerry Muenzer’s grandfather opened Muenzer’s Cyclery and Sports Center in 1910 and realized something important early on – he had to be a “Jack of all trades” to make it work.
At one point in those early years, the store fixed sewing machines. At another, the family was in the lawnmower business. They even tried selling big toys and games, which they eventually dropped in favor of sporting goods and clothes.
“When the town was small, you had to be a Jack of all trades,” said Jerry Muenzer, now 60 and president of the sporting goods store.
With shoppers moving toward the Internet and big box stores for their goods, smaller shops like Muenzer’s have suffered along the way. He also mentioned that the store took a major hit from the loss of agreements with local schools to sell their physical education uniforms.
“That was a big part of our business,” he said.
After “treading water” through the city’s six-year building moratorium and the economic downturn, as Muenzer put it, he has announced the sporting goods side of the business will close.
He told the Free Lance this week he is retiring at the end of the month, while his sister Jan and son Casey will go forward with the key and lock shop. Muenzer’s is holding an inventory reduction sale in December, he said.
“We’re not in any position where we’ve got to liquidate stuff. We’re selling the stuff down. Eventually they’re going to move next door and work the locks and keys next door,” said Muenzer, referring to the building owned by the family in the 200 block of Fifth Street.
While the shop bounced around when Muenzer was a child to various downtown Hollister locations, he reflected this week about growing up at the business.
“The best part of a family business is the family, and the worst part of the family business is the family,” Muenzer said.
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