Honoring Excellence in Small Business: Keswick Cycle

Pictured above: Brian Hackford (left), Owner of Keswick Cycle and Retailer of the Year award recipient, with Salvatore Patti, Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking Group Manager, PNC Bank.

One of the eleven winners of the Chamber's 27th annual Excellence Awards Honoring Small Businesses is featured in this issue: Retailer of the Year, Keswick Cycle. The Retailer of the Year award is sponsored by PNC. Be sure to look for additional winners in upcoming issues.

Brian Hackford has been connected to a bicycle since he was 12, relying on it to get around the Montgomery County countryside. He bought his first bike at Keswick Cycle—one of the original, and largest, Schwinn distributors in the nation, with a long-standing reputation for superior service.

Fast forward to age 28, when he left his portfolio manager's job, headed to graduate school in New Hampshire, and started part-time work in a bike shop. He was hooked. By 1999, the original owners of Keswick Cycle sold it, and two years later he jumped at the opportunity to become a partner. In 2006, he opened a second store in Cherry Hill. Today, with a combined 18,000 sq. ft., they are superstores of bicycles and triathlon equipment and apparel for bikers, swimmers and runners.

Even while serving an ever growing cycling community, Hackford is most passionate about the multi-generational customer base of families who continue the tradition of getting their bicycles at Keswick's: from the $100 kid's bike to the $15,000 carbon-fiber Serotta road bike.

The staff—all of whom are biking enthusiasts—prides itself on mechanical and industry expertise, extended periods of trying before buying, a trade-up policy on old bikes, pick-up and delivery service, and daily availability. They're simply people who love bikes—as a way of life, sport, low-impact aerobic exercise, and vehicle for spectacular sightseeing. They are submersed in it; not in selling a product, but in selling a lifestyle.

A model in the cycling industry, Keswick hosts repair clinics and seminars on commuting, nutrition and sports psychology topics, and organizes bike tours to places such as Vermont's Kingdom Trails. They support major bike events in the region, sponsor 10 non-profit bike teams and clubs, and donate 100 bikes annually to Philadelphia's Neighborhood Bike Works.

They've garnered many industry accolades, including twice-voted the coveted “Best of Philly” for best bike shop by Philadelphia Magazine and making Bicycle Retailer Magazine's Top 100 Bicycle Retailers list for the last four years.

Incorporated: 1933                Glenside, PA                keswickcycle.com