Winner's Edge Trek to the top

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29: You wouldn’t race a horse and buggy against a car and expect to win.

And likewise, you can’t rely on old business models and expect to compete well in today’s fast moving world.

Paul Medeiros and Greg Hopkins, co-owners of the Winner’s Edge bicycle shop, have kept pace with the times to come away with their third award from Trek.

Mr Hopkins said the award was primarily based on sales, but it also factored in other considerations.

Winners Edge previously won the award from Trek in 2002 and 2006.

He said the years in between the last award and this one have been difficult, as it has been throughout most of the globe with the economic downturn.

 “With the recession worldwide, we just stuck at it and reinvented ourselves. We worked harder in different harder in different areas and it paid dividends.

“It was a surprise we won the award this year, but we’re very, very happy about it, but we’re not taking it for granted.

 “It’s an ongoing process. One year doesn’t always lead into it being a good year the next year. It’s just a lot of hard work.”

Credit

Mr Hopkins gave much credit to Mr Medeiros. “Paul goes all around buying and we’ve really been on top of making sure when people want things, they get them in short term. Many years ago, people in Bermuda were prepared to wait for things because that’s the way things were.

“But now when there is so much information available on Internet, we have to be on top of things and make sure we have things available all of the time. If it’s not available when somebody wants it, then we can get it in quickly.

“Paul has done a lot of work to make sure we have avenues where we sometimes can get stuff within 24 hours for people — People expect that now. If you’re living in the past, and think people are patient and prepared to wait, then you’re not going to get the results as people are not programed to wait for things now.

“It’s an immediate gratification world these days and as a business we have to move with that and that’s what we’ve done.”

He said the award “means a great deal to Paul and me. It’s just an indication after all the years that we’ve been in business we’re still as passionate and working as hard as when we first got one of the awards in 2002.

 “Paul and I are as passionate about the sport of cycling and the industry as we were 20 years ago when we started our business. We are involved in the sport and support it in many ways including having a Team comprised of all ages and abilities of almost 40 riders.

 “We are totally committed to our business and both work six days a week, because you only get out what you put in, there are no shortcuts.”

Mr Hopkins said that attitude also permeates with all the staff at the store.

“Anyone who works for us is a cyclist and that is vitally important in our industry, because a customer can connect with someone who is interested in what they are doing. It is not just a job.”