Making the Dollar: Wheel Fun Rentals

Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, May 28, 2003

An interview with Jim Rogers, owner of Wheel Fun Rentals.21 N. Columbia St., 151 Ave. A, 407 S. Holladay, Seaside 738-8447If you are in the mood to try something new, look no further than Wheel Fun Rentals in Seaside. If it is designed to get you from here to there and it’s human powered, Wheel Fun rentals probably has a least one to rent.

How did you get started with Wheel Fun Rentals?

“There was another company in town that was renting surrey bikes (two-to six-person bikes with a surrey top), and I noticed so many bikes going by that I did some research and bought 16 surrey bikes of my own. I actually had them shipped over from Italy where they are made. Within two months, I was in operation right here. The guy who had the other company had set up locations all over the coast. He decided to franchise and that is when I bought the rest of his bikes and expanded my business. I bought the Wheel Fun franchise from him.”

What do you carry?

“We have bikes, big and little motor scooters, many different kinds of paddle boats and kayaks. The downtown location specializes in the surrey bikes and beach fun bikes. We also have some unique products: the duce coup, which is a two seat recumbent bike and a sling shot, which is a unique low riding bike. We have wave runners, a hot-rod roadster, inline skates and chopper bikes. To rent the mopeds you have to have a drivers license and your parent’s permission if you are younger than 18. The little scooters can be rented if you don’t have a license, but you still must be 16 and have your parent sign for the rental if you are younger than 18.”

You are located next to the new Trendwest Hotel and Resort, do you see the new hotel as a future boost to your business?

“They have killed us in the last two years with the construction. Our Avenue A location just really didn’t do well because of the trucks and construction, but we can see the end of the tunnel. We are hopeful the new hotel will double the store business. It might take us a year or even two to catch up with the percentage of business we lost during the construction.”

How are rental prices tabulated?

“We rent by the hour, but if you know you want to keep the equipment longer, we have four-hour and full-day rates. We co-market our business. Hour-long rentals receive a coupon for Jabooka Jooce. We call it ‘Intermission with Permission.’ If you buy a Jabooka Jooce smoothie you receive a half-hour of free rental time.”

What challenges do you encounter?

“The worst challenge in this area is the weather. The tourist industry and outdoor sports activities are driven by the weather. When we have bad weather our business is dry. When we have nice weather our business thrives. The business is also very seasonal because of the tourists. We are open in the winter when the sun is out, but if the weather is bad we close the downtown location.”

What type of volume do you do?

“We provide fun things to do for more than 1,000 people during a three-day weekend like Memorial Day.”

What is your favorite part of operating this business?

“Watching people have fun.”

– Timm Collins