The Bike Shop was founded by owner Paul Molnar in 1980, Paul's interest in bikes started as a boy growing up in Detroit, Michigan. back in the days when every neighborhood had it's own bike shop, and most bikes were single or 3-speeds. As a young boy Paul spent many hours hanging out at the local bike shop.
Paul got his start in the bike business by searching for discarded bicycles in local landfills, fixing them up for sale and repairing neighbors and friends bikes. The first shop was located in the corner of the family's living room with cargo hooks in the ceiling serving as a repair stand.
After a couple of years at this location the shop moved a little closer to town into a 10 foot by 12 foot office shack in an old mill site. This building was so small that helpful neighbors simply picked up the building with a forklift and moved it with the entire inventory inside to make room for the new building to be built. This new building was about 400-500 square feet and served as the location for The Bike Shop for a number of years until growth and a larger customer base called for the shop to move 25 miles south to Okanogan.
An old gas station and mini mart with 800 to 1000 square feet would serve as The Bike Shop for the next four years.
The Bike Shop moved one more time south again but only by 3 miles this time to the historic Schalow's hardware and grocery building. Bike Shop customers helped move all the bikes to the new location, one bike at a time as they peddled all the bikes down Elmway in a long bike parade.
Today, Paul's son, Sarin Molnar handles most of the Shop's operations and plans to take over the business.