If you’ve lived in Hollister for any amount of time during the
past 95 years, chances are you’ve bought a ball, bike or a Boy
Scouts uniform at Muenzer’s Cyclery and Sports Center in downtown
Hollister.
Hollister – If you’ve lived in Hollister for any amount of time during the past 95 years, chances are you’ve bought a ball, bike or a Boy Scouts uniform at Muenzer’s Cyclery and Sports Center in downtown Hollister.
On Saturday, the Hollister Downtown Association will hold a reception at Muenzer’s to celebrate the store’s 95th year in business.
“And they say downtown won’t live,” said Sheila Stevens, HDA president and owner of downtown business She’s.
Stevens said that Muenzer’s 95 years in business exemplifies how to survive tough economic times and disasters like earthquakes and fires.
“To maintain and be so strong is wonderful,” she said. “There’s bad days, but it’s not the days that count, it’s the years.”
Local resident Dorothy McNett, who was in Muenzer’s Thursday to buy a basketball, said that Muenzer’s represents Hollister’s small town past. Formerly a downtown business owner herself, McNett closed her upscale kitchen store, Dorothy McNett’s Place, this summer because of sluggish sales.
“It is what a small town is,” she said. “It’s changing, but when we can hang onto the roots, it’s important.”
Founded in 1910 by Joseph Muenzer, the store moved to different locations throughout downtown Hollister before settling in at its current location on 221 Fifth Street in 1969.
Muenzer’s originally offered locksmithing services and sold bicycles. Some time in the mid-1920s, Muenzer partnered with a man with the last name of Meginness and the store became Muenzer and Meginness. The newly-named store sold bicycles and motorcycles. Some years after that, Muenzer split with his partner and continued locksmithing and selling bikes.
Muenzer kept his business alive during the slim years of the Great Depression in the 1930s by selling and repairing everything he could, including lawnmowers and sewing machines.
“He survived through two World Wars, he survived the Depression,” said Jerry Muenzer, who now owns the store with his sister Jan Holthouse. Jerry Muenzer and Holthouse are the third generation of Muenzers to run the business.
That tenacity and willingness to adapt to the times is the quality that has kept Muenzer’s in business for nearly a century, according to the owners.
“There’s not much we haven’t sold,” Jerry Muenzer said.
After World War II, Muenzer’s son Joseph Jr., joined the business. In 1957, another son, Bill, took Joseph Jr.’s place after he died. Current owners Jerry Muenzer and his sister Holthouse got into the family business in the 1970s and 80s.
Today the store still sells and repairs bicycles, does locksmithing and sells sporting goods and athletic wear. In addition to adapting over the years to suit the times, Jerry Muenzer identified another quality that has helped the store remain successful.
“I guess I feel like we’ve been honest with our customers, not that others aren’t honest,” he said recently. “We try to conduct our business in an honest way – a good product for an honest price.”
Muenzer’s recently received some competition earlier this month when sporting goods chain Big 5 opened a store in Hollister. But the Muenzers said that, so far, their business hasn’t been affected, and they intend to continue to do business just like they always have.
But for both Jerry Muenzer and Holthouse, it’s not just a business. They said that being able to keep the store going and continue the family tradition is a way to honor their grandfather and other family members who made the store what it is today.
“I think of it as a tribute to them that we’re able to keep it going,” Holthouse. “Nobody knows the story of our grandfather… this gives us a chance to share it with people in town, now.”
An anniversary celebration will be held Saturday at 1pm at Muenzer’s, located at 221 Fifth Street. The public is welcome. Refreshments will be served and the Muenzers will raffle off a bike.
Luke Roney covers local government and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com
