The fa
çade of Muenzer’s Cyclery and Sports Center in downtown
Hollister harkens back to days gone by, when hunters and fishermen
were the main clientele.
The façade of Muenzer’s Cyclery and Sports Center in downtown Hollister harkens back to days gone by, when hunters and fishermen were the main clientele.
But today, the 1960s-era fisherman reeling in his catch could just as well be a skateboarder, paintballer, or middle school P.E. student.
“People who are new to town with children will always find their way in here because of the P.E. clothes,” says Jan Holthouse, who runs the family business along with her brother, Jerry Muenzer. “They are pleasantly surprised with what else they find in here.”
From clothing to bicycles to a locksmithing service, Muenzer’s continues to diversify its offerings as it reacts to a changing demographic in Hollister and San Benito County. The business was founded in 1910 by Joseph Muenzer and had different locations around town until settling in its current location at 221 Fifth St. in 1969.
“We’re always trying to deal with the team sports – softball, baseball, football, soccer,” Holthouse says. “Paintball and skateboarding are cyclical things. When you have a store that specializes in skateboards, they may not be able to weather slow periods, whereas we can weather that because we are so diversified and we are able to continue forward with other things while keeping the skateboards.”
Muenzer’s works out agreements with local schools to sell the required physical education attire in exchange for a donation back to the schools.
“We’ve been doing that for nearly a decade,” says Muenzer, noting that the store also sells Boy Scout and Girl Scout uniforms and ancillary items: “Everything they need, except what they have to earn,” he notes.
The certificates of appreciation, team photos thanking the store for its sponsorship, and various other awards highlight the store’s ties to the community it has served for nearly a century.
“We want to give back to our community,” Muenzer says. “Helping FFA, 4-H, fair time, youth sports … it makes us feel good.”
Muenzer’s original business plan centered on locksmithing and bicycles. In the mid-1920s, Muenzer partnered with a man named Meginness and the store sold bicycles and motorcycles. After the partnership ended, Muenzer continued on through the Depression and World War II.
Joseph Muenzer sold and repaired everything from lawnmowers to sewing machines to keep the business going. After World War II, his son, Joseph Jr., joined the business. Another son, Bill, took over the business after Joseph Jr. died.
The store moved into its 8,400-square-foot Fifth Street location in November 1969, joining a downtown that was the center of business activity in Hollister at the time.
Jerry Muenzer and his sister, Jan, took over the business in the 1970s after having spent plenty of weekends and holidays in the store as children.
“We both grew up in the business, working as kids,” recalls Muenzer, who began working full-time in the store in his early 20s.
Holthouse remembers being recruited to work in the store during the busy Christmas season.
The siblings have a sense of pride about keeping the family business running for so long.
“If you make it this far, you kind of want to see it through,” Holthouse says. “We’re trying to get to that 100-year mark (in 2010).”
The four full-time employees are related, and other family members have held part-time jobs in the store throughout the years.
“The best thing about a family business is working with family,” said Muenzer, setting up his punch line. “The worst thing about a family business is working with family.”
Asked what has kept the business going through economic highs and lows, changing demographics, and the development of retail stores in other parts of town, Muenzer replies, “We’ve been honest. If we hadn’t have been honest for three generations then we wouldn’t have been here for 95 years. It’s honesty, integrity, and service. If we didn’t treat people right, we wouldn’t be in business.”
Downtown Hollister has weathered earthquakes, fires and the unpredictability of small businesses. But Muenzer’s, despite challenges from national chains such as Big 5, keeps going.
“Go back far enough and downtown was it,” says Muenzer, who is a member of the Hollister Downtown Association. “That’s where all the business was. That’s not to say that downtown is not vibrant today. We have Ignacio (Velasquez’s) building (at the corner of Fifth and San Benito) that he just re-did and is 90 percent occupied, a new sports bar is opening up, even the Intero building and Nino Real Estate (on the south end of downtown). Those are healthy signs. That’s not to say there are not issues, because there are some vacancies, but downtown is changing; it’s not dying.”
Brenda Weatherly, executive director of the Hollister Downtown Association, said Muenzer’s is an important component of the area’s success.
“They’ve evolved over the years as the community’s needs have changed,” she says. “That’s why they’ve stayed in business for so long.”
Muenzer says the store does its best to respond to the needs of its customers.
“By in large it’s usually customers coming in asking for something,” he says, citing the recent popularity and then dipping interest in scooters and roller blades. “But they’re still out there. Road bikes faded away and now they’ve come back. Part of the challenge is knowing what’s hot and what’s not.”
One holdover from “the old days” is personal service, Muenzer and Holthouse explain. Every customer who enters the store is greeted by an employee who asks if they can help find anything.
“The fact that we try to have a personal relationship with a lot of our customers” is a hallmark of Muenzer’s customer service attitude, according to Holthouse. “A lot of times we know the customers who are walking in; we know their families and ask, ‘How are the kids doing? How is the baseball team doing?’ You don’t get that in a chain store. Jerry and I try to acknowledge that kind of stuff.”
After thanking a customer who came in to pick up a new set of keys, Muenzer took a moment to reflect on his livelihood.
“It’s been a good business and the community has been good to the family,” he said.
