Last of a breed?

Dealer Profile - Scona Cycle, Edmonton Alberta

Name of dealership: Scona Cycle & Sports Ltd.
Year founded: 1968
Location: 9556-82 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6C 0Z8
Brands the dealership sells: Honda
Best sales year: 2007, 340 units
Size of dealership: 16,000 sq. ft. including 5,000 sq.ft. showroom; 6,000 sq. ft. accessories department; 2,000 sq.ft. service department
Owners: Kathy Zacsko-Besa, Rudi Zacsko Jr., Rudi Zacsko Sr.
Number of employees: 25
Charitable activities: United Way of the Alberta Capital Region
Website: www.sconacyclehonda.com
Telephone: 780-432-0858

Forty years in business is remarkable for any enterprise these days. Forty years by a family-owned business in the powersport industry is a remarkable milestone, and an accomplishment worth celebrating. And that’s exactly what Rudi Zacsko (pronounced ZAS-kō) Sr., daughter Kathy Zacsko-Besa, and son Rudi Jr., Scona Cycle’s co-owners, did on April 1, 2008.

Now seventy-seven years old, Rudi Zacsko Sr. has earned an enviable reputation as a down to earth, forthright businessman, and he is one of the most prominent people in Western Canada’s motorcycling community. His biography is the classic “immigrant makes good” Canadian success story.

In January, 1957, Zacsko and his wife Margaret arrived in Edmonton, refugees from Hungary. “I always say I arrived with 14-1/2 other (refugees) – my wife was six months pregnant!”, says Zacsko, laughing. He recounts the decision to choose Canada as the country for making a fresh start, was a contentious one. Other members of the group wanted to go to Australia or the United States, but Canada is where the group finally settled.

The early years in Edmonton were tough for the Zacskos. He spent the first couple of years driving taxi and eventually training as a machinist. Already an avid motorcyclist where he grew up in Hungary, his passion for motorcycles soon led to acquiring a Bultaco sub-dealership. In 1968, Rudi Sr. opened Scona Cycle, selling Honda, Bultaco, CZ, and Moto Guzzi. In a few years, he dropped all lines and became a single-line Honda dealership. Rudi Sr. takes great pride that Scona Cycle is not only Edmonton’s oldest motorcycle dealership, but it is also one of the few remaining Honda single-line dealerships in Alberta.

The family says motorcycles were and continue to be the centre of their father’s universe. “If he’s not out riding, he’s here (at the dealership). Motorcycles are his life”, says Kathy. (Rudi Sr. was also a top-tier motorcycle ‘scrambles’ racer; in the 1960s he held the #2 Canadian national plate in his class.)

With the kids growing up around the dealership and having a father who spent all his business and recreational time with motorcycles, it seemed inevitable that Kathy and Rudi Jr. would get involved in the dealership. In 2001, the siblings each purchased one-third shares in Scona Cycle, and now handle the day-to-day operations. Rudi Jr. manages the sales, service and marketing parts of the business and Zacsko-Besa is responsible for administration and human resources. Rudi Sr., now in his mid-seventies, still goes to the store every day and sits right where long time customers expect to see him - in full view behind the glass of a modest office at the back of the sales floor.

Taking over a family business can be challenging, especially if the founder, usually a parent of the new operator(s), remains a shareholder and is on the premises. Sometimes when the next generation takes over a family business, the new operators have to wrestle away decision-making authority previously under the uncontestable control of the founder. Kathy and Rudi Jr. wholeheartedly agree that is not the case in their situation, and they have full control of the business. And both are quick to add they very much appreciate their father’s vast experience in the motorcycle business. Kathy explains, “I so value what Dad has done. He’s got the facts. He really knows the business. He knows what’s going on (in the trade.)” And while Rudi Sr. no longer involves himself in daily minutiae of running Scona Cycle, the brother-sister partners say their father brings a highly-prized ‘big picture’, third-party view to the table when difficult business decisions are being addressed.

New management, even in family-run businesses, often brings the desire to make sweeping changes to ‘update’ or ‘modernize’ business practices, but again, that’s not the case at Scona Cycle.

Kathy and Rudi Jr. strongly believe they bought into a well-run, sound family business built on sound business practices, all of which are a true reflection of their father’s personality. “Senior” (Kathy calls her father) is a ‘tell it like it is’ kind of guy – a straight-shooter, and honest.” Rudi Jr. adds with a hint of exasperation, “Sometimes he’s too straight-shooting with customers. He’s not averse to pulling out a dealer invoice on a bike and showing it to the customer and asking them if they would work for that little (profit margin).”

The second-generation Zacsko entrepreneurs say there is much in the Scona Cycle dealership that is valuable and worth preserving. Rudi Jr. says the number of customers built up over forty years is one of Scona’s great strengths, and among the most rewarding parts of the business is meeting customers who say they bought a motorcycle from the store twenty years ago, and meeting third generation customers. “I like to think we can take care of people in the ‘old school’ way, just like ‘Senior’ has done for so many years, emphasizing personal service and honesty”, says Kathy.

The Zacsko family – Rudi Sr., Kathy Zacsko-Besa, and Rudi Jr. - and their Scona Cycle dealership have earned an enviable reputation serving Edmonton and Northern Alberta for forty years. But the second-generation owners Kathy Zacsko-Besa and Rudi Jr. aren’t content sitting on their laurels. They have finalized plans to makeover the dealership which will include renovating their building’s facade with Honda Canada’s latest corporate-look signage, larger showroom windows and a drive-through service area – major upgrades that should contribute to the ongoing success of this family-owned business for many years to come.

CPT

Tags: dealer profile honda