McCully Bicycle & Sporting Goods marks its 100th anniversary this month, and the company’s longevity is a tribute to the plantation days work ethic of its founders.
The old-fashioned value of hard work was passed down to their children and grandchildren, said Ali Kessner, part of the third generation which still keeps the wheels turning. It was her grandfather, Giyei Takayesu, who founded the Waipahu store, originally named the G. Takayesu Bicycle Shop, on July 4, 1923, on Waipahu Street.
She, her sister Cathy Yasutake and brother Ben Takayesu are all in their 70s and have worked most of their lives for the business.
“We were a mom-and-pop store from the very beginning. We had to work all the time. I remember going to work at 7 in the morning when I was only 8 years old! The store came first,” Kessner said.
Her grandfather immigrated in 1909 to Maui from Okinawa to labor on a sugar plantation with thousands of others. He and his wife, Kame, a picture bride, moved to Oahu after his contract was over. Here, he ran a small gas station and soon found himself fixing flat bicycle tires on the side.
“And that’s how it started,” she said. He saved and borrowed $500 to open up a store to sell and repair bikes; soon he added bamboo fishing poles and other supplies. The family lived upstairs.
In 1958, their son Buster Takayesu and his wife, Marion, expanded the store down the street on Waipahu Depot Road. He renamed it Waipahu Bicycle & Sporting Goods, which customers nicknamed “Buster’s,” said Kessner, one of his six children.
Besides sports gear, you could find Barbie dolls and all kinds of things, she said. “My dad was a real entrepreneur!” (Her father actually built several stores in addition to theirs, one of which is still home to Rocky’s Coffee Shop today.)
“My dad was the best salesman. Parents would warn their kids: ‘Now, don’t talk to Buster, we are not buying anything.’ But he would make such a deal that you couldn’t resist buying, and if you didn’t buy anything, he would give you something, but you had to come out of there with something.”
He even sold Schwinn bikes to Hollywood stars James Arness of “Gunsmoke” fame and John Wayne, and to the King of Tonga, who visited every year.
The Waipahu store is still open under the same name and run by longtime employees, though it mainly carries fishing gear. Arakawa’s, the iconic general store, once stood across the street, and the owners treated her family as their own, she said.
“We have many wonderful memories of the ‘the old days’ and stories of ‘plantation days’ shared by my parents and grandparents,” Kessner said.
In 1971, her brother Ben Takayesu, who later became president of the company, decided to open a spot on Kapiolani Boulevard, where he also offered bike repair. Then he expanded to the corner of McCully and Young streets in 1972, changing the name to McCully Bicycle & Sporting Goods.
In 1986, the store moved to its current 8,500-square-foot location on South King Street. Around 1990, Takayesu opened McCully Bicycle Repair & Maintenance Shop, converted from a warehouse on nearby Hausten Street, where he continues to work today.
Ben Takayesu said he started tinkering with bikes when he was just 5 years old, hanging around the Waipahu store with his dad, Buster, whose foremost piece of advice was, not surprisingly: “Work hard. … It’s a bad habit — I can’t seem to get into hobbies like golfing or tennis. I’m like my dad, I guess.”
The industry has changed with so many purchasing bicycles online, but his repair services are still in demand. The biggest bump in the road has been learning to fix modern electronic bikes involving computers, and just trying to figure out the problem, he said.
Dedication to the family business started when they were very young. Kessner said she was only 13 when she ran the cash register, and in high school everyone was expected to help. During their college years, her father told them to come home on vacations to work at the store.
“Even when I had children, got married in the 1970s, I used to bring my kids into this store at 4 a.m. to work — that’s when you get to talk to the mainland vendors, right? So it’s been in my blood from the very beginning.”
Kessner said her oldest sister, Georgine Morita, commuted every two weeks from her Los Angeles home for 25 years to take care of the financial end of the business but is now retired. Her sister Cathy has been wanting to retire the last 10 years but Kessner keeps talking her out of it, she said.
One of the most important lessons their parents taught their children was that the customer is always right. Kessner genuinely enjoys interacting with people and wants to keep working as long as she can. She’s grateful for their customers’ loyalty, realizing that it’s far easier for them to buy on Amazon than to shop local.
“People don’t realize the post-pandemic supply chain issue is very real. We have things backordered for a year; it’s really hard.”
Having to close the store is always a fear, as it is going through a very rough period with difficulty restocking its inventory and paying its bills. On top of that, the roof leaks and there are other problems with the old building they can’t afford to repair. The cost of doing business is extremely expensive overall, she said, particularly utilities, insurance bills and employee health coverage.
It’s not an encouraging prospect for the next generation to continue the family legacy, and that’s why mom-and-pop stores usually go out of business, she said. Today, the business has about 25 staffers total, mostly part time; a lot of them are old-timers, a few of whom even worked with her father.
Most of the kids in the extended family have helped during the summer or weekends at one time or another. Kessner’s granddaughter Lily Engle, 18, averages five mornings a week before she attends college classes, and has always enjoyed helping whenever needed.
Ben Takayesu, 77, said he hopes his three sons will carry on when he retires, but he plans to continue fixing bikes for 10 more years. His son Grant works alongside him, while sons Ryan and Matt help at the McCully store.
Although 100 years is a mighty milestone, the celebrations will be kept low-key with special sales, bike raffles and gift certificates through the end of the month and perhaps into early August.
There’s also an anniversary T-shirt for sale. It features the company’s logo — a panoramic photo of the Waipahu Pedal Pushers, a bike team of young men and boys her grandfather supported in the early 1930s.
MCCULLY BICYCLE & SPORTING GOODS
2124 S. King St.
808-955-6329; mccully-bike.myshopify.com
SHARE YOUR MEMORIES
Ali Kessner invites anyone who has fond memories of the old Waipahu store to email her at staff@mccullybike.com.
