Team Winner's Edge

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About Winner's Edge

'The best way to show how the Winners Edge came about is to let you read an article that appeared in the Royal Gazette newspaper in December 2007 celebrating the shops15th Anniversary (reprinted with the kind permission of the Royal Gazette www.theroyalgazette.com )

By Tricia Walters

“A labour of love.”

That’s how Winners Edge Bike Shop’s co-owners Greg Hopkins and Paulo Medeiros describe their shop on Front Street. When the two men took over the business 20 years ago they had very little money, seven bicycles and a handful of equipment. However there was no shortage of determination and their love of cycling and their passion for the business has led them to become one of the top bicycle shops in Bermuda and a major sponsor of the sport.

When the duo started the business there were five bike shops in Bermuda.
“We bought the Winners Edge, an existing bike shop, from people who were looking at getting out of the business and Bermuda was going through a recession. Everyone thought we were pretty crazy for doing what we did,” Mr. Hopkins recalls, adding that they were banking on the fact that Mr. Medeiros had 20 years experience in the business and his mechanical knowledge about bikes was second to none.

At the time Mr. Medeiros was the manager of Wheels Limited and Mr. Hopkins was a Police Officer teaching in the Police training school.They met and became friends when Mr. Hopkins, who was a competitive triathlete racing in Bermuda and internationally, took his bike into Wheels to be repaired. Wheels also sponsored Mr. Hopkins for several years.

“We heard through the grapevine that Winners Edge was coming up for sale and Paulo was working on my bike one day leading up to a competition and said ‘How do you fancy buying our own bike shop?’ and I said ‘Sure let’s do it’. And it was a bit of a joke at the time,” he says with a smile.
Despite the fact that neither of them had two pennies to rub together, they took a proposal to the bank, who were impressed by what they saw, and approached the Small Business Association, who also supported their proposal and, as Mr. Hopkins recalls, literally sealed the deal.

Fifteen years ago the shop was located in the Imperial Hotel building on Church Street and Mr. Hopkins adds with a chuckle that when they started they literally had seven bikes left in the shop, some accessories and a workshop, so they borrowed more money to buy their first shipment of bikes.

Mr. Medeiros worked in the shop on his own for the first year, while Mr. Hopkins and his family helped out on weekends and whenever else they could. But the business quickly grew, so much so that after more than 20 years in the Police Force, Mr. Hopkins resigned and started working full time in the shop.

“Our original idea was to buy the shop, Paulo would work there and when I retired, which would have been around now, I would join him.. well in less than a year it was obvious this was never going to work,” the 54-year-old says with a laugh

“We have an absolute passion for the work, we love the product and even after 15 years when a new product comes out, it’s like Christmas in here with the excitement to see it and bring it in. When you have that sort of passion for something, you will make it work because that passion passes on to others.”

He admits that they knew right from the start that no one gets rich owning a bike shop, but they both love what they do so much that they still look forward to going to work every morning. As for other full-time staff, Stephane Carpenetier, a well-known cyclist, came on board six years ago and Mr. Hopkins points out that all employees, even part-time ones like Duncan Simmons and Philip Woolridge, have been cyclists.

“If they have an enthusiasm for the product themselves then it spins off in the way they talk to customers and that’s always worked very well for us.”

When the Imperial Hotel building was earmarked to be demolished in 2004, the shop moved to Front Street. The move enabled the pair to double the size of their retail space from 8,000 to 16,000 square feet and accommodate an office and workshop for bike assembly and cycle repairs.
In addition, moving to Front Street was cited by the duo as increasing the shop’s visibility and accessibility.

“It was a forced move and one we made with some degree of trepidation because it meant higher costs down on Front Street. I think a lot of people were also surprised to see a bike shop on Front Street,” Greg says.

Of course for those who have lived in Bermuda for many years, bike shops were quite common on Front Street.. in the days before motorcars, when the large parking areas, that today are filled with motorbikes and cars, were packed to the rims with bikes

“With the exposure and added tourists coming in it certainly helped out overall sales, which were offset by the extra costs. Things sort of evened themselves out,” he adds.
“It’s been a long, hard road with a lot of tears, but having a partnership, as I do with Paulo, for the last 15 years has been like a marriage. We spend more time here than we do with our own families and it’s a lot of work.

“There are ups and downs, but we are still here. Bearing in mind that we took over the shop when times were difficult, we always worked off the basis that we would try to offer the best prices that we can on our products.”

Mr. Medeiros agrees, adding that the one thing he could do without is all the paperwork: “I used to do everything... we pretty much did everything ourselves, but thankfully we have an accountant now”

As for the future, Mr. Hopkins says they are always looking at improving and making changes and are looking at doing that even more in 2008. This includes the recent addition of cable television to the store, so customers can pop in during lunch times and catch any major cycling events like the Tour de France.

“Surviving in retail business is just that. It is extremely tough and a continual challenge with the cost of doing business always increasing, everything goes up every year, except our wages (chuckle) and that’s true.

“But we believe that if we continue to offer the customer the best we can, that we can continue for many years to come... we hope so It has been and continues to be a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but a labour of love.”