Elderly Couple Perseveres at Grand Cycle

Originally Written March 12, 2025 as part of a news features class at Wilbur Wright College.

An octogenarian couple are the only two in the bike shop. In fact, they own the place. Signs of a dying business permeate the atmosphere. Empty shelves. Hardly any customers. The fading turquoise paint above the front door reveals an outer storefront slowly withering away. On the walls behind the cash register, handlebars and cranksets are concentrated, perhaps to direct attention away from the empty walls toward the front door that tell a deeper story. One gets an eerie feeling of visiting some relic of the past.

Tucked away one block east of the busy intersection of Grand and Harlem awaits Grand Cycle, a small business owned by an elderly couple who persevere despite challenges to their business that online retailers have created.

That makes it easier to understand why co-owner Anna Hulin is reluctant to have any pictures taken. She can’t stand that there are empty walls when the business used to be thriving, saying she does not want to be “embarrassed.”

A heavyset octogenarian with thin glasses and receding gray hair, Anna’s husband John Hulin, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, takes a break from fixing a bike and utters something in his native tongue to his wife. Never showing a smile, you wonder if he’s angry. Perhaps he’s just tired of working by himself all day.

Anna said Grand Cycle used to have a bunch of “good honest workers” who helped out in the shop. But ever since the Covid-19 pandemic increased online sales of bicycles, the shop has had to downsize to only two workers: John and Anna.

John works on the bikes and Anna operates the business side by answering phone calls and processing payments.

Because it’s only Anna and John running the shop they have to close down when the weather gets too cold for them to travel. Only open for five hours on certain days, Grand Cycle’s hours are tentative.

With an apparent lack of business one might quickly assume that Grand Cycle never thrived.

A customer for over 30 years, my father Stephen Griffin, remembers when Grand Cycle thrived. “I remember going in there before the pandemic and the racks were filled with bikes.”

John purchased Grand Cycle from previous owners in the ‘80s, according to Anna. The shop was once a hotspot for BMX riders, especially in the ‘80s, when large groups of kids would sit on the floor while their BMX bikes were being repaired.

Back then, when business was booming, the couple wanted to give back to the community, which they did by hosting a raffle every Christmas when one lucky kid would go home with a free BMX bike.

BMX was so popular at the shop that BMX legends had good relationships with the owners. The coach of the U.S. freestyle BMX team Ryan Nyquist and the BMX star Dave Mirra were acquaintances with the owners and visited the shop, according to Anna.

Grand Cycle also serviced skateboards up until 2015, but had to stop as online retailers made competition too difficult. “Kids turned to Internet and they killed everything,” said Anna. The halt of skateboard sales shows that the Hulins have been fighting the World Wide Web far before the pandemic.

Yet the pandemic pushed people to online retailers and rising prices made customers less willing to pay, so customers have stopped coming to Grand Cycle, sometimes mentioning excessive prices and unfriendly behavior of the owners in Yelp reviews.

User Jessica L. thought it was “unreasonable” to charge $15 for a break adjustment and said about the owners, “they are not terribly friendly to deal with and the shop was dark and kinda dirty.”

Yet Griffin said he was pleased when John gave his black Diamondback bike a tune up, saying the bike “drives like a new bike.” “One of the cheapest places you’ll ever get your bike fixed,” Griffin said.

Anna defended her business practices, saying that since the pandemic bikes that used to cost $350 now cost $650 and that she always tries to be fair with her customers. Anna urges customers to visit Grand Cycle to support a couple-owned business instead of going to large retailers online.

How does Grand Cycle survive? Anna shared Grand Cycle’s secret to retaining business.

“Honesty goes a long way,” said Anna. Despite running the business with only her husband and having no advertisements, Anna says if you're honest and fair with customers they will advertise through word of mouth for your business, building a loyalty that keeps customers coming despite the competition.

“He does good work for a solid, honest job,” Griffin said. When Griffin broke his bicycle chain John fixed it cheaper than expected. “The chain got all twisted. I couldn't untwist it. I brought it by him. I thought it was going to be 25-30 bucks, he said oh just give me 10 bucks.”

While not mentioning specific bike services or products, Anna credits the couple’s business philosophy as the reason why Grand Cycle is special. “Be yourself, work hard, don’t stick your nose in other people’s business, and keep smiling,” she said.

Griffin is fond of the owners and their business. “I’mma gonna miss it when it’s gone I’ll tell you that,” said Griffin.

Anna said she does not worry about the future of Grand Cycle.

“Through good or bad, family sticks together no matter what,” she said.

Window of Grand Cycle is filled with bikes and riding gear. Located at 7160 W. Grand Ave. this hidden gem captivates bike enthusiasts, before even knowing the shop’s rich backstory. Photo Credit: Kyle Chmielowski

Filled with a variety of bike gear, the owners try to concentrate most of it toward the center of the store. Photo Credit: Kyle Chmielowski.