The History Of Vince's Motorcycle Store
Vince was interested in motorcycles and started working in motorcycle stores as gunk boy
and eventually worked his way up to parts manager. He worked at various places and one day
he decided the customers deserved better. So he started his own business, Mobile Motorcycle
Repair. He started with $100 worth of advertising, his old Ford van and his tools. It was a
hard way to make a living, but he is a stubborn guy.
Vince was in every way the Mobile Motorcycle repair guy. He even started talking to
his customers-in his sleep! He got calls at every time of day. I never knew what to expect
when I got home from work . He worked seven days a week, any time of day. Sometimes a customer
would get stranded and he would go rescue them. Actually, he rescued a lot of people. He
showed his customers how to work on their bikes. He loved to teach them how to do it right.
Our 1st child was born so Vince decided to open a store as well as working out in
the field. Can anyone say workaholic. He rented a building on Pacific Avenue where Shucks
is now. The store was still called Mobile Motorcycle Repair.
One day we had a fire at the old store and were out of business for three months
while they rebuilt. Things were just looking up, we had just put up a beautiful wall mural,
we had a new brand of motorcycle to sell, things were great. One day we saw some guys with
measuring tapes in the store and asked them what they were doing. They told us they were
measuring the building to tear it down. What sounded like a bad joke became a frantic search
for a new building because Al’s Auto Supply had just purchased the building and wanted to
build their new store. That’s how we got here on Martin Way.
It has been a great location for many years now. Several years ago I talked Vince
into renaming the store. I told him that whenever he went to a motorcycle club meeting
everyone told the new guys to go to Vince’s store, but they never said the name and that’s
when Vince’s Motorcycle Store was born.
Now we have multiple brands, 3 kids, and a huge mortgage on a wonderful old house
in Lacey. Many of his customers literally grew up with him and now bring their kids bikes
to Vince. Just so you know, it makes him feel old, but wonderful. Thank you all for believing
in Vince as much as I have.
Mrs. Vince
AKA Teri Palazzo