No, not McDonald's. I'm a month into my new adventure, training to be the bike shop manager for Scheels in Overland Park, opening next June, and I'm loving it! For the past one, and next three months I'm spending my time in Omaha, training at a great store that's been open for about 10 years. My schedule has me spending ten days straight working there, and four days back home, about three hours away. At first that was really hard; new job, new town, away from family. And after spending my whole career in retail drugstores, getting familiar with a whole new lingo was a challenge. But my wife and dogs are doing great, and the culture and people of Scheels are awesome, and have made this as easy as it could possibly be.
I head back tomorrow morning for another 10 days, and I have a feeling that the next several weeks are going to fly by as we enter the fourth quarter, or perhaps more precisely the two-minute drill of the retail game, the holiday season.
This time of year the bike shop has shrunk to a fraction of its normal size, and North Face, Under Armour, and Spyder jackets have filled in the void. Since winter gave us a sneak preview in Omaha we've been selling coats, hats, gloves, sweaters, and base-layers like crazy. It's been kind of a baptism by fire to the world of selling at Scheels. It's been fun, but as cool as North Face is I can't wait to sell more bike stuff.
My wife and I did get to tour the new store on Friday and see the progress in construction. This store is going to be amazing! Come late June, if you're anywhere near Kansas City, come to Overland Park and see the newest Scheels. In the back corner of the first floor you'll find a guy with a smile on his face in the bike shop. That will be me.
