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Zac Ziegler: I'm Zac Ziegler, and you're listening to Oregon Rainmakers from KLCC. On this edition, I talk with Eugene and Sue Cathcart from Willamette Mountain Mercantile in Oakridge.
When you pass through a small town, there are a handful of shops you expect to see on Main Street: a general store, a gas station, a motel, maybe a few restaurants or a bar. Absent from that list, a shop that sells specialty mountain bikes, books and camping gear, and also fixes bikes. But if you drive along Highway 58 through Oakridge, you'll come across a place geared towards outdoor enthusiasts. Willamette Mountain Mercantile takes advantage of Oakridge's growing ecotourism and outdoors economy. The area is becoming well known amongst mountain bike enthusiasts, hikers, and disc golfers for its network of trails and ample space to enjoy some time in nature. On a recent trip to the shop, I spoke with Eugene and Sue Cathcart, a married couple who are also co-owners and partners in Willamette Mountain Mercantile. My first question: How did they and the store end up in Oakridge?
Eugene Cathcart: Well, I first found Oakridge through my boss and mentor, who was a pro racer in Flagstaff, Arizona? He came to Oakridge in 1998 to do a fairly famous 100-mile mountain bike race called the Cascade Cream Puff. And when he came back to Flagstaff, I was 16 years old, and he said that was really cool. You should probably go up there sometime and check that out. So in 2000, I came up here and rode the 100 mile race. I was the only junior in the event. I finished it, and it left a great impression on me. And then a few years later, in 2004, our friend McKenzie opened this bike shop, and in 2005 he invited me to come over here and work as a mechanic, so that was the introduction to us landing here in Oakridge. That was 21 years ago, and in that time, yeah, I've been working here as a mechanic and salesperson, service manager, and then I met my lovely wife when I was working here one day, and I'll let you tell a little bit about that.
Sue Cathcart: I had been an avid cyclist and mountain biker for years, and my friends always told me, "You got to come check out Oakridge. And I had always been busy in the summer, but finally the window opened up, so I came here on mountain bike vacation, and I walked in the store and I thought, wow, this is a really special place. And then started riding, fell you know got to know the town a little bit better, and I fell in love with the town. I fell in love with my husband, and the rest is history. That was 15 years ago that I came here on mountain bike vacation, and I decided to stay.
ZZ: Yeah, and I will say the the lovely small world coincidence of you and I having overlapped in Arizona. Yeah, yeah, that that just made me laugh. But I get it because Flagstaff is a huge mountain biking community as well, and so it definitely supports more than a few bike shops. But it's also you know 60, 70,000 people. You're you're doing that here on a population that's what a 10th of that, maybe.
EC: Yeah, I think we're looking at about 4,000 people here in Oakridge. Oakridge on its own can't really support a bike shop like this, but we're fortunate to have a nice mix of local clientele and visitors who pass through and come to rent bikes from us, and they have their bike serviced, and all together it it works just barely.
SC: Yeah. One great thing about being here is Oakridge is a hub for people to come from other places. So we're always meeting interesting folks. They come here and they see our trails and they see our shop and they know they're going to have a good time, and they know that they're going to be well cared for.
ZZ: Most of those out of town folks, I mean, do they come in here because you know they loaded up the truck, and I know I've been there where I've taken my bike off and looked at something and went, oh crud, that's broken, or oh I forgot you know my gloves or whatever, and they just happen to realize there's a bike shop in town, or or is there some other connection? Is is there a network? Do people come walking in, going, Hey, I heard you got a cool shop here.
EC: I think it's a real mix. Our shop does have a reputation as being a fun place to stop and visit. So we do have a lot of folks these days who will just stop in just to check us out, but we're also here for yeah all those repairs and things that come up. You forgot your gloves, you you know yeah had a flat tire, need a new set of brake pads. Those are all things that we do help people with for sure.
ZZ: So let's, yeah, I was gonna say how about we'll we'll mosey a little ways in here, as we get the the air compressor firing up there. One of the sounds of a of a bike shop, you know? So we're we're obviously starting here based on that sound in in a bit of a yeah the workshop end of things. It almost looks like here. So as well as a little break station. I see the coffee machine.
EC: Yeah, we live and work here, so we've got a good spot for everybody to hang out, have some coffees, work on the computer. This is where we check in our inventory and park our stuff during the day. Over here, we've got a nice selection of spokes and wheels, and yeah, in a shop this size, a lot of things kind of live near or on top of each other. It's a little bit of a daily battle trying to, you know, keep the workspaces clear.
ZZ: I can imagine. Well, let's let's mosey on over here into the the retail side of things. So, I guess what what's the thing that you most often are are finding folks stopping in and asking about? I mean, are they going coming here for, you know, man, I punctured a I punctured a tube or I did some damage to my tire? What's what's the usual?
SC: Well, one big usual is or one thing that this shop is known for is current conditions. We're kind of at this gateway to being outside, whether it's on bikes or on trail, and so people always are coming in here. You know, you know, is this is this trail open, or how do I best access this? And so you know, and sometimes that's camping gear, and sometimes it's what you see in this room, right? You know, it's like, oh gosh, what you know? What tires do you run in Oakridge? You know, and almost anything works here. But this room is a combination of new tires for your bike. You come here and you don't realize your tires worn out. And if you're here on vacation, you come come in here and great, we've got tires for you. And while we're here satisfying your technical needs, we also have some you know, like shirts and logo wear for you to remember your vacation by, and it's kind of yeah, we're it's a combination of information, whatever you need to be outside, and a few little trinkets so you can help remember your good time.
ZZ: That's totally one of those things. Who who doesn't love you know a little shirt that's a little nod for those in the know, you know. So, so yeah. Let's walk on along here. I mean, obviously, we've got kind of the extension here going of some of the retail, and then over here, something that caught my eye as I was walking around. I see some books that I read my daughter when she was little over here in your in your little bookshop area, it's more than just you know trail maps and and nature guides, it looks like.
EC: Yeah, absolutely. A couple of our mainstays here at the shop are avid book lovers, and some people call us the Oakridge Bike Shop, and others call us the Oakridge Bookshop, and we do have a great selection of yeah fiction, nonfiction, natural history, a bit of botany, some of our local field guides, bird guides, yeah, a little bit of everything. Lots of kids' books. Kids books are probably our bestsellers in our book selection.
ZZ: Oh yeah, I I can imagine. Lord knows how many times when I'd be traveling for work or whatever, I, I would be coming back with a kids' book for my daughter because she loves to read. How did you decide though to to incorporate books into the shop? Was it just hey, we've got a little space here? What what made you decide to to branch out and into something that seems a little unique?
EC: Well, that really goes back to one of the founders of the shop. She was a bookseller in Flagstaff and at McGaw's newsstand and at one of the used bookstores there. And she is just a book book junkie. She loves loves everything literature, so she's really the inspiration behind the books. And I'm more of the bikes end of the shop, but I I value the books as well for sure.
SC: One great thing about the books is, for our shop, we try to have something for everyone, and we can, you know, there's a lot of variety available in books, you know. And so, if let's say you're on vacation and you stub your toe or something goes sideways, you can always come in here and find a good book and find a spot down by the river. And yeah, everything's a little bit better.
ZZ: Yeah, and you know, I do see the section over here with like maps and stuff. You're talking about kind of being that that broker of information. I I wonder how much that kind of you know plays a role. You can come in here and people can be like, oh yeah, like let me show you on the map, and then they're like, oh yeah, no, I need this map.
SC: That is how many conversations start. They'll come in and ask questions, and then we show them this map on the wall. And talk about you know what is it you're looking to do and how can we get you in the spots where that can happen, and then we will line out some plan for the day or a plan for the week, and then they can grab a map and stick it in their pocket and off they go.
ZZ: We're going to take a break. I'm Zac Ziegler, and you're listening to Oregon Rainmakers from KLCC.
Barbara Dellenback: I'm Barbara Dellenback host of KLCC's Oregon Grapevine. The corporatization of medicine is on the rise. Professor Hayden Rookley says doctors are in a financial squeeze.
Hayden Rookley: That's been one of the systematic drivers towards consolidation to these large corporate systems because there's such an advantage if I'm a physician to being big just because I can get a higher fee when I see a patient, whereas if I'm smaller, I don't have that negotiating leverage.
BD: The meeting of medicine and the law on the latest Oregon Grapevine at klcc.org.
ZZ: We're back. I'm Zac Ziegler, and you're listening to Oregon Rainmakers. My conversation with Willamette Mountain Mercantile's Eugene and Sue Cathcart continues.
How much, when when you are in a small town, how important is it to, like a better term, be you know diversified? You know, have kind of multiple angles that bring people in the door. You know, it's more than just bikes. It's also camping. It's also books. It's it's also all kinds of things.
EC: It's a work in progress. The shop's been open 22 years, and we're still having meetings about that every day. It's really important to try to have the right product, and we're always trying to figure out what that is. So we've tried a lot of things over the years, we we used to carry Carhartt workwear for many years, and Danner boots, and some of the products we've tried haven't worked out so well. And we're just trying to lean into what really has worked for us, which are nice mountain bikes, mountain bike accessories, books, and clothing has been a like logo clothing has been pretty helpful and successful for us as well.
SC: Yeah, and a lot of times you know we I know we're on the middle of Highway 58 but a lot of times our shop is considered the end of the road, right? And so if people will come up from Eugene, going on a camping trip at one of the lakes, and they say, "Oh, I forgot my tent poles, my sleeping pad. We try and carry those things as well.
ZZ: I'm curious. Mercantile, when you have that name, you get you know people maybe coming in expecting you know more the general store vibe. Do do you guys run into anything like that ever? People walk in go, oh, that that's not what I was expecting.
EC: 100% I've seen that reaction many times. Come at the front door. Wow, you guys are like a bike shop or a bookstore. I think mercantile is a pretty neat term because it lends itself to so many different types of businesses. And I believe that the founders' vision was that we're here to serve the visitors and the locals, and we're figuring out how to best do that. And the mercantile gives us a term that flexes with the times and allows us to evolve without being stuck in one category.
ZZ: Well, we've we've got one more room here. Let's let's check out the camping supply room.
EC: Yeah. Well, as you come in here, you're gonna see some of our campaign supplies. We've got sleeping bags and backpacks and PFDs and things that you might need to go out to the lake and have a good time. And you're also
ZZ: Disc golf. That's I'm a disc golfer, so I I appreciate seeing this.
EC: Right on. Yeah, we have two great disc golf courses here in 100% I've seen that reaction. There's another one up at Willamette Pass, and another down in Dexter. So there's lots of disc golf around us. If you're here in the room with us, you can see that a lot of merchandise has been taken out of this room, and we're looking to expand our bicycle service center. So one of the areas where we found best success is in bicycle service, and we're growing our service department to work on more technical repairs like e-bikes, and yeah, more advanced bikes are coming along these days.
ZZ: Yeah, that was I. I was actually chatting via email with someone from the Disciples of Dirt, the the local mountain bike group down in Eugene, and he was talking about how, yeah, so often now he's you know with maybe it's with age or just you know as trails get a little tougher for those uphill pedals, the the greatness that having that e mountain bike can be, because you still get to do the fun, the downhill, but you don't have to, you know, quite have those young, youthful legs that'll get you up the hill.
EC: Yeah, that's right, for sure. Yeah, e-bikes are really fun, and they're definitely a growing part of the market. We both ride e-bikes in addition to our regular old school bikes we often call acoustic bikes nowadays, and yeah, it's it's it's a nice new segment, and yeah, we're just trying to build out our shop to be able to to serve everybody.
ZZ: So, I guess with that with that service end, how how important is is having that ability to kind of be full service, you know, because you get people like me who it's like, man, I love riding my bike, but I oh, if there's you know three or four fixes beyond making sure the tires are are aired up that I can manage. Do you find a decent amount of people coming in? You know, as you were talking about looking for that knowledge is is that knowledge of repairs also kind of a big part?
SC: Absolutely, we have great mechanics here, and it's it's fun to be in a town this size with a staff this good, and you know it's getting harder and harder to find places to service your bike, and this is a great spot to do it. It's fun to come into this small town. You know, somebody could conceivably, you know, make an appointment, drop off their bike, get in service, go grab lunch in our uptown at the pub or at our Mexican restaurant, and then come back, pick up their bike, and they're off and running. It could be great.
ZZ: So you mentioned having that that great staff. Is is it difficult to to have enough people with that knowledge base when you're in a town of this size?
SC: You know, it it can be hard, but we've been lucky enough that a town this size, we have hundreds of miles of single track around us, so we have a definite attraction of people that want to be here that also love bikes, and we've been fortunate enough that what this town has to offer has also attracted the right people to staff our shop.
ZZ: Oh yeah, yeah. No, I I have friends that you know they just kind of set up life in a small town in Colorado because they wanted access to, to the trails that they wanted to ride, and and they absolutely loved it. And they kind of said, Well, we'll figure out work when we get there.
EC: I think that's kind of Sue's story a little bit. She moved here because she loved the town and she loved the people that she was meeting here, and kind of figured out how to make it work, as you've been here, right? So,
ZZ: Yeah.
SC: Yeah. The shop has been a big part of that.
ZZ: Well, thanks for bringing me in and letting me chat with you a little about the business and and what it's like to to be you know running the shop that folks might not expect until they see it, and then it makes perfect sense.
EC: Well, it's been a pleasure, Zac, and thanks for coming to visit us today at the Willamette Mountain Mercantile.
ZZ: That was Eugene and Sue Cathcart of Willamette Mountain Mercantile in Yeah, that's right,. This has been Oregon Rainmakers from KLCC. I'm Zac Ziegler. Thanks for listening.
