About Us
We WERE a family with no experience in the bicycle industry with the exception of bmx racing. Our little brother kept bothering our Dad to go to the neighborhood bicycle shop, who then was a franchise consisting of 13 different locations mostly in Georgia and Florida. Our Dad started talking to the owner and before you know it, October 1996 we were owners ourselves of a small family run bicycle shop (store number 14) called AJ Barnes Bicycle Emporium. Although the franchise itself was having difficulty, our store was thriving along with the other locations in our area we soon became friends with. After the franchise went defunk, we renamed our store to Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium. We had 1800sqft right next to Avant Gold in Carrollwood. We Stayed at that location for 5 years and grew a very loyal customer base. We prided ourselves in educating customers, community involvement, helping the hillsborough county sheriffs office with bicycle safety rodeo's for kids as well as helping the department with their own cycling needs, and advocacy. As our lease became up for renewal, we bought out Dad and decided to move to a bigger, busier location on the east side of dale mabry hwy. Wow! Crossing the street made a huge difference and our store grew significantly giving us the chance to grow our store yet again to 4000sqft. Our staff consisted of family members and of course adopted family members whom we were able to trust and appreciate to grow our family business. In 2005 another shop owner came to us to buy Oliver's Cycle Sports. So, our family grew yet again. In 2007, we opened yet another shop called Suncoast Trailside Bicycles located off of sr54 and the Suncoast expressway. All three stores were sold in 2008 to employees who became partners, and now are the proud new owners of our cycling empire. Although family still works at our first store, Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium, we decided to start over in just a 1300sqft store located at the corner of Boyette rd and Fishhawk in the River Springs Town Center Shopping Plaza in Riverview Florida. Why? Simplicity! We now have a beautiful 2 year old little girl and our life needed to be a little calmer. We still have the drive, we still have the desire, we still have the knowledge and the skill. We still love cycling!
