New Moon Ski + Bike Shop

That old real estate adage could well apply to the New Moon Ski and Bike Shop in Hayward, Wisconsin. Its proximity to the network of ski and bike trails across the region’s woods and hills has been a key to its growth from a small shop selling cross country skis in 1976 to a robust year-round resource for outdoor enthusiasts.

“It’s an accident of geography,” says Joel Harrison, who owns the business in a partnership with his wife Kristy and Chris and Judy Young. “We’re next door to the American Birkebeiner, and close to several other major ski races, plus one of the greatest permanent established trail systems anywhere,” he says. “We love the seasonality here. Every week is different. It’s like magic.”

Indeed, the Birkie has played a huge role in the company’s development. The race drew 35 classic skiers in 1973, its inaugural year. But by 1976, when over 900 racers competed, Steve Morales, who was “doing everything Nordic” for the Telemark Lodge at the time, recognized there was a need for a local shop to provide ski equipment, waxing and other services.

Along with his wife Melissa, Morales started New Moon in a small shop that was about 10 percent the size of the current store. “It was a big challenge,” he remembers. “I asked myself, ‘how are you going to go about this?’ Mostly, I needed to secure an inventory and I found a supplier in Minneapolis who was eager to sell to me. It was a fledgling industry at the time.”

Finding a storefront was another issue, and it took several years before Steve and Melissa settled on the shop’s current site. Steve remembers first renting a place along Highway 63 close to downtown Hayward. New Moon used it in winter, and in the summer it was a pottery.

Then the property was sold, and New Moon moved down the highway to a space formerly occupied by a car repair garage. “We were there about three years, then we had to move again when it too was sold.”

After yet another relocation, New Moon was built on the current site. “It was three to four times the size of where we’d been,” says Steve. “It seemed cavernous. We added space in the back for our mail order business, put down roots and made it permanent.

“I was able to turn something I loved into a business,” says Morales, who’s skied in nearly every Birkie and two Kortelopets. “But we were only open in the winter and at the end of the ski season we closed for the summer.” To fill that gap, New Moon added biking to its repertoire in 1989, becoming an all-seasons sales and service operation.

Joel and Chris joined the operation in the 1990s. “We were growing, and we needed help,” says Morales. With their wives, the two bought the company in 2005, and all four are now deeply involved in the skiing, cycling, clothing, marketing and financial management segments of the business.

Joel grew up in Idaho where he skied and was a junior national biathlon champion in the late ‘80s. It was there that he met his wife, Christy, who’d grown up in Hayward and was coached by Morales on the high school cross country team. Chris, from the Chicago area, was a champion Alpine skier. He’s a hardcore forest ecologist with a reputation for fixing anything, including bikes. Judy Young is the company’s clothing buyer as well as a local animal caregiver.

Good match

Skiing and biking are a serendipitous match for New Moon. The local terrain provides a lengthy network of routes for recreational and racing cyclists, skiers and roller-skiers. The continuous growth of the Birkie—and other groomed and ungroomed trails in the area—provides ideal conditions for skiing and skijoring.

At the same time, the establishment of CAMBA (Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association) has been essential to the development of hundreds of miles of mapped gravel and singletrack bike trails. Since his retirement, Morales has been on the CAMBA board and remains active in trail development.

The warming cabins along the Birkie trail are a perfect example of this compatibility. “They’re little sanctuaries in summer,” Joel says, “ideal for hikers and bikers.”

And while the technology has both increased and improved in these sports—high-priced mountain bikes and speed trail grooming as examples—“the experience hasn’t changed,” he adds.

The move into biking is a good example of New Moon’s openness to change and its responsiveness to customers. The company is a major supporter of CAMBA and hosts local biking events. Joel says that the service business related to biking now represents close to 30 percent of the company’s overall sales.

As well, New Moon’s marketing has followed customer preferences. The company’s voluminous catalog has been replaced by online outreach and a detailed website. It’s a challenge many brick and mortar stores have had to deal with in the last decade, and not all have transitioned successfully.

It’s not about holding something in your hand anymore, Joel says. The catalog was attached to tradition, but the online marketing uses the same corridor. “The information is not so siloed,” Joel says. “It’s easier to access.”

Digital communications and marketing give the company almost unlimited opportunities to position itself alongside customer interests and needs. In addition to featuring products from bikes to skis to outdoor clothing and gear, customers can access www.newmoon.com for a variety of other resources. They can rent equipment, schedule a lesson, find out about trail conditions, get the weather forecast, and find out where to eat or sleep while out on their trek. The website offers customers opportunities to earn trial rewards for purchases and apply for financing for major purchases. Customers can find out about New Moon sponsored events like the Birke, the pre-Birkie, the Wisconsin state cross country championships, or the Hungry Moon Gravel Bike Race, and more. “Events like these can change people’slives,” Joel observes.

Customer service

Customer service is more than a slogan at New Moon. “Aways the best customer service,” wrote a reviewer on the New Moon website last August. “New Moon is looking out for the customers’ needs over just trying to make a sale.”

“From my perspective,” says another customer who bought his first wax from New Moon in 1989, “New Moon separates itself from other stores because of its core value—a customer-first mindset. I’ve always valued their reliable advice and strong focus on customer service. I’ve also been impressed by how they have adapted to opportunities in the Hayward area.”

Compliments like these are supported by action. Joel Harrison recalls a time when a customer requested a specific brand of ski pants, but the New Moon staff thought it was the wrong style and color. When the customer came back and asked about the pants again, the store decided to order a small supply. “Now we can’t keep it on the rack,” says Joel.“It’s nearly always sold out.”

He says, there’s hardly an item in the store that customers haven’t asked for. “Customers are our community, bringing brands and ideas to us,” Joel says. “Most of our products our customers brought to us.”

“We focus on that,” says Erin McDade, New Moon’s floor manager. “If it’s something people want, we’ll get it here.”

It will be added to a line of apparel that offers “everything you need to bike and ski,” she says-- from padded liners for bikers, to warm weather gear for skiers, including more advanced styles with wind-breaker fronts and vented backs. “We offer a lot of fun things, too,” Erin says.

New Moon also connects with its customer base through its ambassador program. Ambassadors are practitioners in the various sports New Moon serves. They volunteer their time and expertise to help with events, training sessions and a variety of other activities.

“They are our boots on the ground,” says Joel. “They’re volunteers but not just helpers. They are folks who are fluent in the language of skiing and biking. They assist at events and are familiar with the trails. They share our expertise and our love of storytelling.

“If we’re having a Tuesday night bike ride, they’ll say they can lead, or help out, or sweep up afterwards,” he says. “They’re like chaperones to the event.”

Justin Olney, a sophomore at Hayward High School and a member of the school’s cross-country ski team, enjoys his role as an ambassador. He’s also into roller-skiing and assists new customers with form and technique. When he’s not at the store, he’s out on the trail helping with events. “It’s random,” he says, “waxing skis, moving things, whatever comes up.” He’s also active in regional and national junior ski events and says he’s proud to represent New Moon and wear the company’s brand. “I love doing it,” he says.

Northern exposure

Just over a year ago, New Moon opened a small shop in Telemark in the heart of the Mount Telemark Village.

“Telemark is like the node,” says Joel. “Everything connects here — the bike park, the trails, the Birkie Museum.”

The new shop rents equipment, offers skiing lessons, and is a “grab and go” trailside source for last-minute essentials and the nutrition skiers and bikers might need, as well as fun art gifts and apparel. “It’s a little shop at the center of the loops and trails,” says Joel.

When Morales opened New Moon nearly 50 years ago, he named the business appropriately. A new moon is the moon in its first phase. From our earthly viewpoint, the orb grows brighter in stages until it is full and glowing. As a full-service bike and ski shop, uniquely positioned with its customers and in the perfect location, New Moon is well on its way to reaching that potential.

“I’m proud of what Joel, Christy, Chris and Judy have been able to do,” says Morales. “Especially in the face of challenges like low snow or no snow, and the complexity of the inventory. They’ve made the store into the Hayward community’s center for the Silent Sports.”