Roundy’s set to close

After selling motorcycles and ATVs for more than 35 years, Pete and Merline Roundy are riding off into the sunset.

The Roundys, both 77, have operated a retail motorcycle and service shop in Spokane since 1976. They decided during the past half-year that it was time to retire.

“We’re doing this with mixed emotions,” Pete Roundy said. “We’ve had a good time, and I think we’ve maintained a good reputation in the community.”

For more than 30 years, the couple operated Roundy’s Kawasaki at 8029 N. Division St. They changed the name in recent years to Roundy’s, ending the affiliation with Kawasaki.

They concentrated on retailing the Can-Am brand of road and off-road cycles, along with Sea-Doo watercraft.

In 2005, the Roundys moved the business to the current store, at 11008 N. Newport Hwy.

“It hasn’t been that easy to keep going the past three or four years,” Pete Roundy added. “It’s not been ideal for recreational items. But we hung in there, even when it wasn’t that easy.”

The business always was a closely run, family business. Merline Roundy served as the company vice president, and the couple’s three children all worked in the store at different times, Pete Roundy said.

At one time, the couple had hoped one of their children would take over the business. Instead, all three declined, leaving the Roundys with a decision to close or sell to outsiders.

They opted to let the business close.

“Sometimes, that’s just the way it goes,” Pete Roundy said about the family’s plan to get out of the retail cycle business.

The shop’s final day will be Saturday.

They’ve leased their retail building to the Mead School District, which will use the building for its science, technology, engineering and math programs, Deputy Superintendent Dan Butler said. The district will move into the building July 1.

Mead will maintain some of its STEM courses at the Riverpoint campus, but the move allows the STEM program to expand, Butler said. Mead will spend fewer than $50,000 on building improvements.

The Roundys don’t know how they’ll spend their retirement.

“Right now, we’ll just kick back and take care of some health issues. And not worry about having to call the store anymore,” Pete Roundy said.