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“The first week already paid for itself for the whole year.”
Jesse Hull, co-owner of Bentonville Bicycle Company, spent time with Brian Rawlings from Workstand to talk about switching websites and selling bikes to riders before they arrive in town.
Watch the conversation
Jesse Hull got into the bike business when a friend with real estate in downtown Bentonville asked if he wanted to open a shop. The first design, a building made of shipping containers with glass walls, was turned down by the city. Showing some sneaky determination, the team came back with a deliberately unappealing alternative, and the containers were approved soon after.
Today Jesse and his partner Paul run multiple locations. The original shop at Walton and Central leans heavily toward mountain bikes, and the second, on the Walmart campus, carries more road and gravel for the riders who work there. A small gravel-focused location just opened in the fall of 2026 and sits just across the state line in Missouri.
Selling to riders before they arrive
The shop already had a website that took rental bookings, which Jesse describes as average. Paul pushed to take online sales seriously, and once the new Workstand site went live, out-of-town riders started buying bikes online, picking them up in Bentonville, and taking them home after the trip.
“We've sold a lot of bikes from people out of town that want to come here. They travel here. They buy the bike. They pick it up here.”
The notepad math
Jesse's advice to other owners is to weigh the cost of the site against a single out-of-town bike sale.
“Take out a pen, write down the cost of it… and put down one bike sale there from someone out of town and see what it does to your cost.”
He also points to discovery. Riders browse online first to see which brands a shop carries, and a site with real product listings turns that research into new customers.
“I actually kicked myself for us not doing it earlier.”
Starting small
Plenty of shop owners would rather work on bikes than manage a website. You don't have to go all in at once. Just begin with buy online, pick up in store, and let the results decide how far to take it.
About Bentonville Bicycle Company
Bentonville Bicycle Company is an independent bike shop serving local trail regulars and riders visiting Bentonville's singletrack. The shop carries bikes from Pivot, Norco, Giant, LIV, Marin, Yeti, Nukeproof, Segway, Euphree and Radio Flyer, along with rentals and quality gear.
A full-service tech department works out of two locations, one on W. Central Ave and one at the Walmart Campus on SE J St, and the team stays closely involved in the local cycling community.