Business Profile: Billy’s Bike Shop

Billy’s Bike Shop

By Richard Martinovich

If you have lived long enough, you know history often repeats itself. Bicycle sales have increased the fastest since the oil crisis of the 1970’s, when the bike became a cheap alternative to the cost of fi lling the car with gasoline. When the pandemic began and public transportation shut down, people were looking for a way to get around, and for safe “social distancing exercise.” They turned again to the bicycle. Billy Gillespie has seen a lot of history in his thirty-nine years owning a bicycle shop in Galesburg. Billy freely admits the internet has changed buying habits. “People told me the internet would put me out of business!” But Billy has built a lasting, loyal following. Customers have been coming to his bike shop for his knowledge and expertise and, well, his storytelling! Billy is full of homespun stories! “We love this place!” says a woman who came in with her husband to pick up a bike Billy repaired. “We have been coming here for 33 years!”

Lately, Billy has been repairing a lot of bikes and getting them back on the road. His friendly Southern accent is evidence that Billy originally hails from Alabama! He picked cotton in his youth, and drove an eighteen-wheeler for 26-years before opening a bicycle shop in

1981 in Galesburg. Billy’s Bike Shop is jammed with bicycles, new ones like the quality-rated KHS series, and used bikes galore. Mounted on the walls, are bikes of world champion cyclists like Kelli Emmett from Plymouth, Michigan. After a few rides together, Billy convinced Kelli to race and Emmett went on to a 20-year successful racing career. Some may decide to buy a bike over the internet, but they would miss out on the personal attention, expert advice and folksy hospitality that only Billy’s Bike Shop can deliver.

63 W. Battle Creek Street • Galesburg, Michigan • 665-5202 • Monday-Saturday 10 am - 5 pm, Closed Sunday