Six years, it's been SIX whole years since we opened our South-Congress store. If our store were a kid, it would be old enough to hop on a bike for the first time, just like most of us did.
Before we go further - Thank you from all of us here at Revival Cycles. Thanks to each of you for the patronage, support, and privilege of building a community around our passion.
This stretch that we call home has a real knack for chewing up and spitting businesses out; Even with all of its benefits considered, South Congress can be a brutal place for an operation like ours. In the last year alone three new shops have opened up across the street from ours, which means three old shops had to go. Multiply that kind of turnover by half a decade, and you can only imagine how much the landscape has changed around us. Our interests are niche, our outfit is small, and we don't compromise on our vision, but we're still here! Don't get us wrong; It's not that we didn't think we'd make it. We've always had faith in our mission; it just feels great to get here knowing it's due to the support yall have given us.
Not many people know this, but in the days of Olde, we would open the shop during regular business hours to have a place for people to congregate, drink some coffee, and generally revel in the company of like-minded enthusiasts. As the shop grew, it became harder and harder to entertain this idea practically, but to our delight, the retail store has become just that.
The crowd of regulars at the retail shop has become its own fan base, and in some senses, those fans are entirely separate from Revival "proper." Familiar faces there aren't always familiar faces here, and we love that. The more, the merrier! Right? Celebrating with that group doesn't happen often enough, but we know we're in for a good time and some new friends when it does.
The night started with some friends making rounds, but as the sun set, we drew a crowd and caught the attention of just about every person riding by on a motorcycle. We even had a wedding party stop by at one point. Bit by bit, the sidewalk was filled with everything from a medieval armor-clad Honda Shadow (Sissy-bar Sword Included) to a spankin' new Aprilia RS660 - just the kind of mix we like to see.
Plenty of builders made their way to the party, and as usual, the conversations amongst us didn't take long to fire up, motivated by equal parts excitement and open bar. Encouraging builders of all levels is what we're all about these days, so laying eyes on so many home-builds and their proud owners just about brings a tear to our eyes.
We started the party pretty early and thought the night would mellow out (as Thursday night parties tend to do) after a few hours, but lo and behold, we stayed well past our intended cut-off. Congress had mellowed out just in time for us to hear the roar of arriving engines every few minutes. We like to think it was because we threw a good party, but we also had plenty of libations, so maybe that was it? Who knows! Either way, we closed out the night with smiles on our faces and maybe one or two more pours than intended. We had a blast, and hope you did too.
See Y'all for year 7.
Check out the recap of our MotoGP Celebration Party - click here.
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