In shortAt 25, Simon Murphy owns The Ski & Bike Shop in Grand Forks, a community outdoor retailer since 1979 that he bought three years ago after starting there as a teenager.
3 things to know
1Murphy shifted the shop's focus away from high-end competitive customers toward the recreational majority, which he estimates represents 98% of the market.
2Bike sales and service account for 70% of total business, with e-bikes described as the fastest-growing category the shop carries.
3Murphy attributes much of the shop's reach across rural northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota to word-of-mouth rather than paid advertising.
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At 25, Simon Murphy owns The Ski & Bike Shop in Grand Forks, an outdoor staple that’s been part of the community since 1979. He bought it three years ago, after starting there as a teenager and working his way deeper into the business.
“I started working here when I was 16, 17 years old,” Simon says. “And loved it so much.”
Over time, he took on more roles. More responsibility. More buy-in.
Then, when the previous owners began transitioning toward retirement, the door opened, and Simon stepped through it.
“It’s been great ever since,” he said.
But “great” doesn’t mean easy.
A Bike Kid First
Simon didn’t choose this industry randomly. He was a bike kid long before he was a bike shop owner.
When he was 13, he and his brother biked across Minnesota.
On Highway 2.
“We rode the shoulder on Highway 2,” Simon said. “Would not recommend.”
His mom followed them in a minivan. It was freedom, but with a leash.
He kept taking bike trips over the years. When it came time to look for work, the shop made sense.
“I love riding bike,” he said. “And I had a knack for working with people at a younger age.”
Customer service and hospitality mattered to him. The shop combined both. It’s all about product knowledge, human connection, and a community that comes back year after year.
Skiing came later.
Simon skied casually in high school, but after working at the shop, he went all in. He has been on downhill trips, dove into cross-country skiing, and learned the gear inside and out. Because in his world, you can’t really fake it.
If you want people to trust you with a $700 boot fitting or a ski setup they’ll use all winter, you have to know it.
When I spok with Simon, he said he always had a business nature, but the idea of owning this business became clear in high school, during his junior or senior year.
He had his eyes on the shop specifically.
He left for a semester at a small private Christian school in the Cities. Then COVID hit. He came back to Grand Forks and tried doing school online.
However, his heart wasn’t in it. His heart was at the store.
So he paused school and leaned into the shop instead, investing time and energy where he felt the pull.
A year and a half later, he became the owner.
“It’s a lot of work,” he said. “But it’s super rewarding.”
“It didn’t work for us,” he said. “It didn’t work for us how we sell.”
So Simon shifted.
So Simon shifted. He leaned harder into what specialty shops can do better than the internet.
“The Internet Can’t Fit Your Ski Boots”
That sentence is basically a business model.
When Simon talks about focusing more on hard goods—skis, boots, bindings, snowboards—it’s not because those are easier.
It’s because the shop’s advantage lives in the technical, personal stuff.
The internet can sell a jacket
The internet can’t listen to your skiing history, foot shape, pain points, ability level, goals, and then put you into the right boot, fit it correctly, and make you feel confident walking out the door.
Bikes and Service
If ski season is the heartbeat in winter, the year-round backbone is bikes.
“Bike sales and service is 70% of our business,” Simon said.
And within bikes, one category is exploding.
“E-bikes are by far the fastest growing category in the bike world,” he said.
Not just one type either. The shop sells:
Pedal-assist e-bikes
Throttle e-bikes (no pedaling required)
Folding e-bikes
Mini fat tire e-bikes
High-end models using systems like Bosch and Yamaha
More budget-friendly options too
They also carry every major “discipline” a customer might want
Lifestyle cruisers, mountain bikes, road bikes, gravel bikes—the whole spread, from the occasional recreational rider to the person riding 10–15 hours a week.
If you want to ride for 30 minutes every other week, they can set you up. If you’re a serious cyclist, they’ve got you too.
But a big lesson was deciding who to serve first.
The Business Was Focused On The Wrong 2%
Grand Forks is about 60,000 people, but the shop’s customer base stretches far beyond the city. It stretches down to Fargo, over to Bemidji, up toward the Canadian border, and into smaller farm towns that ski Frostfire and explore the Pembina Gorge.
“The recreational rider or recreational skier is like 98%,” he said.
And for a long time, the business focused too much on the other 2%, racers, ultra-fit, competitive customers.
That focus looked logical on paper. High-end gear is exciting. It’s fun to stock the dream bikes. It’s easy to get caught up in the identity of “we’re the shop for the serious people.”
But there’s a cost because cash gets tied up in expensive inventory that moves slowly.
Meanwhile, the bread-and-butter customers, the ones who keep a shop stable, walk in and don’t see what they need.
Simon watched it happen.
They had too many high-end bikes on the floor. Not enough “get back into it” bikes for the mom who wanted a cruiser. Not enough entrylevel mountain bikes for kids. Not enough accessories to complete the experience likehelmets, bells, pedals, lights, and locks
“If we have 40 bread-and-butter bikes on the floor,” he said, “we’re going to be so much more effective.”
Running The Shop Like A Team
Simon Murphy doesn’t run the Ski & Bike Shop like it’s his stage.
He runs it like it’s a team
“One of the biggest ways is just giving people ownership,” he said.
His brother, Sam, works at the shop.
Another key employee, Zach, handles mechanical work. Together, they run the service side of the business.
Service accounts for roughly 10% of total sales, but it’s arguably the most profitable part of the operation, and the most relationship-driven.
“I let them run and manage the service shop,” he said. “I try not to micromanage.”
That doesn’t mean there’s no structure. They still start mornings with check-ins and expectations. But once the day starts, Sam and Zach operate the service department the way they believe it should run.
“They feel like they have a sense of ownership in the service side of things,” Simon said. “And if I’m not here, the work is still going to get done.”
The goal isn’t to make the shop about him
The goal is to make it about “we.”
“I’ve really tried to remove the emphasis on one person,” he said. “When more efforts are done collectively, people feel like they’re part of the success.”
The Power Of Word-of-mouth In The Upper Midwest
If you ask Simon about marketing, he’ll mention Facebook ads. Google ads. A little TV placement.
Then he’ll immediately tell you none of that matters as much as word-of-mouth. Especially in rural communities.
The Ski & Bike Shop’s reach spreads through small towns across northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota: Park River, Grafton, Fordville, Walhalla, and Cavalier.
In places like that, one good experience travels fast.
“They tell their friends,” Simon said.
“And then their friends come in.”
When customers walk in, Simon doesn’t start with a sales pitch.
He starts with conversation.
In a community like Grand Forks, where relationships drive everything, that approach turns a retail space into something more familiar.
“You want them to feel welcomed,” he said. “Not like they’re just a stranger in a store.”
Why He Still Skis And Rides
For Simon, using the products isn’t optional. It’s essential.
He skis a couple of times every winter, sometimes traveling, like a recent trip to Park City, UT, and sometimes keeping it closer to home, like a weekend at Giants Ridge with his brother and their wives.
On the cycling side, he participates in local road and gravel races and plans to ride the Maah Daah Hey Trail in Medora later this year.
Because when someone walks into the shop asking about skis or bikes, Simon believes the best advice comes from experience. “If you Google downhill skis online, you’re going to get bombarded with 50 different options,” he said.
A shop cuts through that noise. They listen. They ask questions. Then they narrow the field to a few pieces of equipment that actually make sense for the customer.
And when Simon has personally ridden or skied the gear, the recommendation carries weight.
“There’s a certain buzz after a ski trip,” he said. “You come back and you’re like, ‘I was on this super cool new ski. It was awesome. You should try it.’”
Learning To Be An Owner
Simon didn’t walk into ownership with everything figured out.
He’s still learning
He recently graduated from Northland Community & Technical College in East Grand Forks and is now attending Bemidji State University part-time, continuing to study business.
Outside the classroom, he leans on mentors.
Some come through formal channels like SCORE mentorship programs. Others are simply experienced business owners across town.
People like Chip Shea at Shea’s Nursery, Matt at Rhombus Guys Pizza, and Richard, who owns See Dick Run, LLC
He also points to Larry Hondl, a real estate leader with Oxford Realty, as someone who’s been a consistent supporter and encourager of the shop.
The common thread among those relationships is honesty.
Simon talks openly with them about the anxieties that come with ownership.
Mentors help pull him back from that spiral.
“I love what I do because of the people,” Simon said.
And, of course, he couldn’t do it without his wife. “My wife is my biggest supporter and is a sounding board for every single one of my ideas,” Simon said.
Editor of Fargo INC! — covering the founders, companies, and ideas shaping business in Fargo-Moorhead. Eleven years in, still no opinions, no politics, all business.
