Wheels in Motion, a bike shop and Ann Arbor staple since 1933, completed their major expansion project and reopened to customers on July. 19.
The family owned store, at 3400 Washtenaw Ave,. bought the neighboring 9,740-square-foot space from James Weitzel for $855,000 in August 2012 to add to their 2,500-square-foot shop, which has been home to Wheels in Motion since 1988.
The space was rented by Naked Furniture until the furniture store moved in to the former Blinds to Go building at 3570 Washtenaw Ave., in January 2013.
Construction began in late March 2013 on both the interior and exterior of the building.
Owner DeWight Plotner, who was born into the Wheels in Motion family, said the expansion has allowed the store to overcome size limitations on the amount of products on display, as well as the amount of support the shop can provide to the cycling community.
Wheels in Motion bike owners Vickie, DeWight, Chelsie and Travis Plotner pose for a photo in the new showroom, located at 3570 Washtenaw Ave.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
“In the old portion of the store, we couldn’t really highlight products because we had to use every inch of space for our inventory,” DeWight said. “Now people are saying ‘my goodness you’ve really brought in a lot of new inventory,’ but that’s the inventory we’ve always had. You just couldn’t see it in the old store because a lot of it had to be kept in the basement.”
With the additional space, Wheels in Motion will be able to more than double the amount of bicycles they put on display.
“We’re not trying to cram bikes in here, but comfortably speaking we should be able to display up to 250 bikes,” DeWight said. “We were only able to fit about 100 in the old portion of the store.”
Not only is there more space for merchandise, but there also is more room for the store to host events and meetings for the cycling community.
“Space for meetings and more room to have some of the events we host start or end at the shop was something we really wanted,” DeWight said. “We want to be a bike ambassador for Ann Arbor. I guess you could say we feel like Ann Arbor deserves a world class bike shop. It is such an active cycling community and we wanted to support that.”
There is a conference room at the back of the new space that will be available to the cycling public as well as a spacious entryway, which features movable displays so that the area can be used for large events.
Plans for the old shop — which is connected to the new space by a side door — have not been made.
“It could be a recycle shop with close-out, bargain deals, used bikes and trade-ins,” DeWight said. “A recycle shop was something we couldn’t do with the other store because we were so tight on space. We didn’t have room for doing a lot of that sort of thing. We’re still trying to decide what should be done with the space.”
Travis Plotner, DeWight’s son and manager at Wheels in Motion, said they have been getting a lot of ‘Wows’ from the people who walk in because of the unique atmosphere.
“We tried to give the building a little more character and we tried to utilize as much as we could from the existing store,” DeWight said. “It was important to us that we keep the two height levels to break up the showrooms. The people that know us and knew what we were doing still couldn’t believe the outcome.”
DeWight said the building had to be gutted and completely redone.
“Returning customers are really happy for the shop because it’s a community and we’ve always had the greatest staff in the area,” Travis said. “Now we have the building to match the quality of our customer care.”
Wheels in Motion will host a grand opening sale on Aug. 10 to celebrate the completed expansion and the store’s 80th year in business. DeWight said the store will have some sort of giveaway during the event.
Chelsea Hoedl is an intern reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at choedl@mlive.com.
