Silver anniversary for Larsen's Bicycles
April 16, 2016
WORLAND – A quarter of a century.
That's how long Larsen's Bicycles has been a part of Worland's business, and biking, community. The shop, located on Big Horn Avenue in the downtown corridor, is owned by Lisa Weamer, an experienced bike rider and Montana State graduate.
Weamer, originally of Livingston, Mont., said she opened up Larsen's Bicycles 25 years ago on April 1. "We opened on the first so we could say we were just kidding if the shop failed," Weamer said.
The shop thrived, and though it worked through three location changes, Weamer found its permanent home on Big Horn Ave.
Larsen's Bicycles is one of two shops with the same name. The original shop was opened by Buzz Larsen in Powell. After Buzz experienced popularity with Worland customers, he decided to open one here.
With a shop of his own to run, he recruited Weamer, who worked in advertising sales at the time, to run the shop.
Weamer's parents, though not Worland natives, owned a chain of groceries in the area, and gave her the first Larsen's Bicycles location on 12th Street, where the bowling alley is located, with a year's free rent to see how it went.
Twenty-five years later she continues to run the shop.
Weamer purchased the Worland shop from Larsen in 1995.
Weamer said she wouldn't have stayed if she didn't love it.
Larsen's has it all
Larsen's is a full-service bicycle shop, which means Weamer does repairs, sales of bikes and even skateboards and carries bike accessories to help fulfill all bike riding needs.
The shop also offers a lot of community oriented services like its trade-in deal, where a customer can trade in a Larsen's shop-quality used bike and use that as credit to purchase a new bike for a reduced cost. The bike returned is then cleaned up by Weamer and resold for less.
Weamer said summer is definitely her busiest season and what most is touching to her is the customers that return. "I'll have people come when they were kids and then come when they have kids of their own and need bikes, Weamer said. It's really something special," she added.
The secret to her success
"We stand behind our product, offer good services and take care of our people," Weamer said.
Weamer, herself, owns four bikes, and enjoys her mountain bike most when she takes her dogs along. She said one of her favorite biking activities is going on scenic bike tours.
As for how many bikes she's sold during the past 25 years, Weamer jokingly said, "I've probably sold more bikes than there are people in Worland."