Domenico's Motorcycles

With as many women that are involved in motorcycling, why are there so few women running shops? I don't know. It's The women in riding is really coming along. A lot more. Most of the time the women would ride on the back of their husband's bike and not they're not. They ride alone, ride with their husbands, but there's a lot of women riders now. Both dirt and street. We've got some great women dirt bike riders that are coming up. How long you been here Paula? This location about 17 years. Were in Kailua. We opened in 1969. We got first shop. We had Yamaha's and Pentons at that time, which became KTM's. As far as family owned shops, where are you in the ranking? One or two? I think for family owned dealerships we are one, the rest are distributors and dealers. But I think we're the only strictly dealer. I know you lost your husband Domenico, the founder of the company, right in 2006. That was of course a difficult time. At that point, did you ever think about packing it in? No. No. We wanted to go on as long as we could forever and he ate, breathed motorcycles and it was unexpected. His death was not expected. So that was the hard part. But customers, distributors, phenomenal. They all came in to help because when you're not prepared for it, it kind of hits you over the head. But they were just phenomenal. Just wonderful and it was very smooth. Employees were great. Missing him was hard because he was such a dynamic person. But everything else went pretty smooth. Do you say to yourself, what would Domenico say? Oh, daily. And when you do something, I went, oh, no, I shouldn't have, should I? But what happened is none of our children are into motorcycles. So three or four years ago, we decided to, we needed to back off some and make it easier to run. So we got rid of two or three brands and now we're comfortable. We have KTMs, which is our best. We've had them for 40 some odd years, for dirt bikes and Yamaha for dirt and street and they have been just phenomenal. One of the things that gets me about one of the lines you carry and that's Royal Enfield. Royal Enfield. What a look. It is old fashioned, new fashioned and a great seller because it's reasonably priced and all types of people I think what'so pleasing about it is when you have kids come in and say, wow, my grandpa used to ride it for your shop. Oh my God, we're going generation after generation coming in. Yes, it is. And if you want to see them working on your bike, you're welcome to it. Just don't go bother the mechanics. We just open with anything. There's nothing where you can't go here every Saturday. We have pastries and coffee and lemonade all day long. So it's wonderful. Do you get out on a bike much? No, not at all. Were basically dirt bike riders. And now if I fall, I'll really get hurt. What's up in the future for Domenico's? Well, I was telling somebody, I think someday you'll come in and I'll be at my desk and kind of push me and oh, she's gone. That's it. And then the employees will take over. So you've set your business model up so that the next generation can walk right into it. As you look back in the years, what's one of the most memorable moments you spent on a motorcycle? Probably being with the family up at the park, just riding around. My husband and I would go and walk Kelly and go up to the fl Just going to places that normally you wouldn't. But it's mainly just cruising around into the mountains. I was never a street rider, always in the dirt. And that's probably the most memorable of just riding around, seeing places that you didn't even know existed and are still there.