ASHLAND — A crowd suffering symptoms of Spring Fever amassed at Ashland’s newest retailer of outdoor sports on Friday.
“This is so fun,” said Kristin Flickinger, who had jumped into the saddle of a much-too small bicycle with training wheels.
Dan Lawson, an At-Large Ashland City Councilman, shopped for kids’ helmets for the Kroc Center’s Safety Town happening in July.
Several others slipped on new shoes for running and hiking, and some browsed other items for pickle ball, cycling and camping.
Ashland Bike Company and Fin’s Performance & Family Footwear held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on a sunny-but-chilly Friday for a grand reopening at the company’s new site along Cleveland Avenue.
Making a Visit?
- Address: 1225 Cleveland Ave., Ashland, Ohio 44805
- Store hours: Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Closed Sunday and Monday)
- Website
The store relocated from Main Street in downtown Ashland at the turn of the year. They moved to the former Cleveland Avenue Market.
Since winter, the site has been under renovation — creating new space to sell shoes and other outdoor-related wares.
The grand reopening marked a new chapter for Ashland Bike Company and Fin Feather Fur, which had acquired the cycling store and two other area businesses in 2024.
Rees Vail, vice president of Fin Feather Fur, said the move allowed both businesses to reach a wider clientele, and to keep business flowing through historically slower winter months. The store now offers footwear in hiking, cycling, running and cleat categories.
“Hopefully we can get more of you in here to shop with us,” he said Friday to the crowd of around 40 people.
It’s been five months since the move into the former Cleveland Avenue Market store. Since then, crews have totally renovated inside.
The cycling end of the store features a service station with four work stations. One of them is a bike-service stand that can lift heavier e-bikes, a category of bicycles that is experiencing rapid growth globally and in Ashland.
The store still offers an array of cycling brands, from Trek, Denago, Cannondale and Intense, in mountain, hybrid, BMX and e-bike categories.
It also carries Retrospec children’s bikes, and keeps a selection of used bikes, too.
The retail side of the store features a separate cashier counter, with camping gear, footwear and other apparel.
Vail and Ashley Hendershot will head up as managers of the store. Former owner, Tony Bunt, accepted a new position working as a software manager for Ashland City Schools. He starts in June.
“It was a hard decision,” Bunt said. “But it couldn’t be in better hands.”
Bunt and his wife, Michelle, established Ashland Bike Company in 2017. He said he’s spent the last eight years not just establishing a solid business, but a community around cycling. Building a business kept him away from enjoying it.
“So now I’m taking a position that will give me time with my family and also time to enjoy being part of the shop in a different way,” he said. “I’m really excited for the bike shop and what they’re doing here.”
For his part, he’ll still be connected with Team WILD, the bike shop’s summer youth program. He also organizes an annual bike race, the Dirty Water Route. The event is a 500-kilometer ultracycling race that takes riders from the Ohio River to Lake Erie.