Schwinn Sales West
Wore out three sets of tires already!
So yesterday MRG delivered a pair of tires to me, and we got to talking about Schwinn Dealers of yesteryear. He was talking about the dealerships he knew as a kid growing up. I mentioned that the area where he was talking about was in the back yard of the local area Schwinn Authorized Distributor. The distributor was called the Harry Wilson Sales Agency. They represented the Schwinn Bicycle Company in Southern California and Arizona during the 50's and 60's (maybe even before?). They were located at 5959 Smithway in the City of Commerce, CA. Basically, it's where The Citadel shopping center is located today just off the 5 Freeway. It's near the old tire factory that became The Citadel.
At the time, Fair Trade pricing law were in effect. Schwinn felt strongly that they needed to improve their dealership network and they could not expect dealers to invest into their dealerships unless they could show them a profitable return on their investment. Schwinn had what they called a Suggested Retail Price. Not to be confused, they also had had Zone 1/2/3 prices for freight difference which was different. The Schwinn Suggested Retail Prices where Fair Trade Prices on bicycles. The government did not like what they saw as "price fixing". The pricing case went to the Supreme Court. I believe Levi Strauss joined Schwinn in the Supreme Court class action because they also had Fair Trade pricing.
The court eventually ruled that after Schwinn sold the bicycle to their regional independent distributor(s), it effectively "changed ownership hands" and they had no right to enforce their Fair-Trade Pricing after the independent distributor resold it to the retailing dealer. They could only enforce the prices, if they still owned the product. That was effectively the end of the long standing independently owned Schwinn Distributors. Schwinn Bicycle Company built a new "Factory Owned" Schwinn Sales Company in the City of Industry on Hacienda Blvd., just south of Valley Blvd. That business was called Schwinn Sales West. They had three other sales companies called Midwest, South and East.
It was a very sad time, very emotional because the independent distributors were like one big Schwinn Family. Harry Wilson Sales hosted the annual regional dealer awards dinners at the Steven's Steak House just down the street. It's still there today or was the last time I drove the 5 Fwy. This is were the dealers were awarded their 500 and 1000 club plaques for their annual sales. They also received their 500/1000 club gold pins that you sometimes see listed for trade today. They would have local celebrities attend these awards meetings. Andy Devine, and Bob Keshen (Captain Kangaroo) were some that I remember as a kid attending these meetings.
The Wilson family owned a large size ocean fishing boat that they docked. They somehow were told that fishing boats with shinny propellers attracted more fish. I guess it made sense to think that a fishing lure was shinny and it attracted fish. Well, you guessed it. Off came the two large propellers, and they crated them for shipment to the Schwinn Factory for a "free dip" in the Schwinn chroming tanks.
The 50's, 60's, and early 70's were a different time. Our family's dealership was the last stop of the day for our Harry Wilson sales rep. Norm Rankin, needed to finish our order in order to get the days parts orders into the mailbox in front of our store and make the last 5:00 PM mail pick up. He would roll in around 3:00 PM and ask if we were ready? We would have the office desk cleared off for him, and our parts order ready. He asked for as many part numbers as possible, not just descriptions he had to look up. He went down to the liquor store in the shopping center and bought a small bottle of Vodka and a bottle of Tonic. He came back, fixed himself a Vodka Tonic, and began writing our parts order. There was No Selling involved, give me your order, see you next month!
Schwwinn had a large national dealer convention. It was in Miami Florida. It was held at the then luxurious Fountain Blue Hotel. This was a good opportunety for Schwinn to push their Total Concept Dealership model. This is why all of you saw a similarity inside the show room of all of the dealerships. Well Schwinn went into the lower level parking garage in the Fountain Blue and built a (temporary) Schwinn Dealership showroom. The entire thing, including carpeted floors, Equipto parts drawers, service department, bicycles and accessories on the floor and walls. It was another cool trip for their dealers.
The Schwinn dealers, the Independently owned distributors, and the Schwinn Factory personnel were one large family. They had all of the normal drama that occurs in any big family. Some really good, enjoyable times, and some not much fun.
John
At the time, Fair Trade pricing law were in effect. Schwinn felt strongly that they needed to improve their dealership network and they could not expect dealers to invest into their dealerships unless they could show them a profitable return on their investment. Schwinn had what they called a Suggested Retail Price. Not to be confused, they also had had Zone 1/2/3 prices for freight difference which was different. The Schwinn Suggested Retail Prices where Fair Trade Prices on bicycles. The government did not like what they saw as "price fixing". The pricing case went to the Supreme Court. I believe Levi Strauss joined Schwinn in the Supreme Court class action because they also had Fair Trade pricing.
The court eventually ruled that after Schwinn sold the bicycle to their regional independent distributor(s), it effectively "changed ownership hands" and they had no right to enforce their Fair-Trade Pricing after the independent distributor resold it to the retailing dealer. They could only enforce the prices, if they still owned the product. That was effectively the end of the long standing independently owned Schwinn Distributors. Schwinn Bicycle Company built a new "Factory Owned" Schwinn Sales Company in the City of Industry on Hacienda Blvd., just south of Valley Blvd. That business was called Schwinn Sales West. They had three other sales companies called Midwest, South and East.
It was a very sad time, very emotional because the independent distributors were like one big Schwinn Family. Harry Wilson Sales hosted the annual regional dealer awards dinners at the Steven's Steak House just down the street. It's still there today or was the last time I drove the 5 Fwy. This is were the dealers were awarded their 500 and 1000 club plaques for their annual sales. They also received their 500/1000 club gold pins that you sometimes see listed for trade today. They would have local celebrities attend these awards meetings. Andy Devine, and Bob Keshen (Captain Kangaroo) were some that I remember as a kid attending these meetings.
The Wilson family owned a large size ocean fishing boat that they docked. They somehow were told that fishing boats with shinny propellers attracted more fish. I guess it made sense to think that a fishing lure was shinny and it attracted fish. Well, you guessed it. Off came the two large propellers, and they crated them for shipment to the Schwinn Factory for a "free dip" in the Schwinn chroming tanks.
The 50's, 60's, and early 70's were a different time. Our family's dealership was the last stop of the day for our Harry Wilson sales rep. Norm Rankin, needed to finish our order in order to get the days parts orders into the mailbox in front of our store and make the last 5:00 PM mail pick up. He would roll in around 3:00 PM and ask if we were ready? We would have the office desk cleared off for him, and our parts order ready. He asked for as many part numbers as possible, not just descriptions he had to look up. He went down to the liquor store in the shopping center and bought a small bottle of Vodka and a bottle of Tonic. He came back, fixed himself a Vodka Tonic, and began writing our parts order. There was No Selling involved, give me your order, see you next month!
Schwwinn had a large national dealer convention. It was in Miami Florida. It was held at the then luxurious Fountain Blue Hotel. This was a good opportunety for Schwinn to push their Total Concept Dealership model. This is why all of you saw a similarity inside the show room of all of the dealerships. Well Schwinn went into the lower level parking garage in the Fountain Blue and built a (temporary) Schwinn Dealership showroom. The entire thing, including carpeted floors, Equipto parts drawers, service department, bicycles and accessories on the floor and walls. It was another cool trip for their dealers.
The Schwinn dealers, the Independently owned distributors, and the Schwinn Factory personnel were one large family. They had all of the normal drama that occurs in any big family. Some really good, enjoyable times, and some not much fun.
John
