New building will help sell the legend

House of Harley building new facility

Construction is under way on the site. The concrete slab was poured Oct. 21, and the addition should be completed in April.
The concrete fiber exterior will be crafted to look like rustic wood paneling. And apart from a few futuristic-looking features, the overall structure would look right at home on the set of a Clint Eastwood spaghetti Western. But the new building will signal more than a façade change – the structure will be expanded to 50,000 square feet.
The project also reflects a sea change in the way the dealership is doing business.
Partners John Schaller and Doug Klumb have, over the years, turned the Greenfield dealership into more of a bikers’ Mecca than a retail store. The dealership has become someplace to go as a destination rather than just someplace to shop for a bike or parts.
The mystique of Harley-Davidson and the fact that the dealership sponsors the Milwaukee #1 Harley Owners Group (HOG) chapter and is located in the cycle icon’s hometown go a long way to driving event traffic, according to Schaller.
Many events are designed to appeal to locals rather than to riders making pilgrimages from afar. This summer, Schaller said, the dealership had one event or another going three out of every four weeks.
"For the Milwaukee rally this year, we had twice as many people as we expected," Schaller said. "There were 45,000 people here. We expected maybe 15,000 or 20,000. We also do a spring bike show and a fall event we call Nostalgia Days. People bring vintage bikes and automobiles and show them here. We get 3,000 to 5,000 people for that."
Events tend to bring more than visitors – 30 to 50 vendors of Harley-related products also show up to hawk their wares at the dealership.
"They sell anything that goes on the bikes or the people who ride them," Schaller said. "We get everything from pinstripers to people who sell leathers. It has become a very sophisticated industry."
Vendor participation is expected to reach a high watermark next August during Harley-Davidson’s 100th anniversary, when a virtual army of bikers will descend on Milwaukee. The dealership has plans to close Layton Avenue – a major east-west thoroughfare that serves General Mitchell International Airport on Milwaukee’s south side – for the occasion.
"For the hundred, because we are closing Layton Avenue, we expect to have 200 to 300 vendors," Schaller said. "Some of the things we are doing are specifically for the hundred. But that is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime deal for all of us. We can’t let it determine everything we do."
To provide a better environment for vendors, an outdoor area in front of the dealership will be fitted with some special features. Bollards with phone and power outlets will be installed around each light pole. That will allow vendors to utilize Internet-based credit card services and operate other electrical equipment.
Other features designed to satiate the special event crowd include a music performance area set into a hill behind the building.
"The area is built into the hill – it is raised and has power for bands," Schaller said. "So for special events, we can have live music, and it will be the focal point for what is going on."

Quantifying the image
Neither Schaller or Klumb could quite put their finger on why Harley-Davidson gets people jazzed enough to drive halfway across the country just to visit their vehicle’s hometown – or why a product dealership can become a destination and social center the way House of Harley-Davidson had.
"I think it is a complex issue," Klumb said. "I think it is very American. There is still a little bit of the cowboy in it. Peter Fonda in the 90th anniversary video said it was like the last American cowboy."
"A lot of it," Schaller said, "is the people you meet. It is a melting pot of society. You have your outlaw biker standing right next to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and they have something in common they can talk about. We’ll even have a lounge area where people can hang out and meet their friends."
Kind of like the set of Cheers? Will Norm be sitting with the rest of the gang catching up every night?
"We have our Norm," Schaller said.
"Actually, we have a couple of them," Klumb added.
In the final analysis, the Harley-Davidson dealership may be different from an appliance dealer down the road for one simple reason.
"People don’t tattoo Maytag on their arm," Klumb said.

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Oct. 25, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

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