In the late 60’s, Paul Woods was a successful entrepreneur in the food business, but times were changing. His company had been purchased by a national conglomerate, and instead of being able to talk to his boss whenever the need arose, he could only make appointments to see him. Paul, being a people person, was not very happy with this, and decided to make a change.
In the early 70’s, an opportunity arose to acquire part of a Honda dealership in Irving, TX. The dealership was not very successful at the time, but Paul had a knack for making lemonade out of lemons. Within a couple of years, the dealership had changed direction and Paul was selling motorcycles as fast as his staff could build them. With a good group of employees in place, Paul started looking for other opportunities. Austin was in his sights.
Austin was home to Wilco Honda, a small single line Honda dealership. The owner was willing to sell, and Paul wanted to live in Austin; a better match would be hard to find. Wilco Honda soon morphed into Woods Fun Center and began to grow. Through the 70’s and early 80’s, the dealership continued to expand and Paul’s son, Mark Woods, left his job in accounting to join the family business.
In the late 80’s, the economy started to sour, and year after year, sales plummeted. Between 1985 and 1989, sales were chopped in half. Mark, who by this time was running the company, went looking for opportunities to increase sales during these tough times. In 1987, Woods Fun Center added Kawasaki to the franchises it carried, and in 1988, Mark added Sea-Doo to the mix.
The early 90’s saw a resurgence in motorcycle sales, and the father and son team of Paul and Mark continued to look for new opportunities. In 1991, Woods Fun Center acquired Jack O’Leary’s Yamaha. It was also during this time that Paul and Mark made a short foray into the boat business (Toyota), as well as partnering with industry start ups like Cannondale motorcycles, and the doomed from the start Excelsior-Henderson Motorcycle Company. It was also during this time, that Paul decided to spend more time fishing and hunting, and the reins were fully handed over to Mark.
Mark made a fateful decision in the late 90’s. He had wanted to expand opportunities for himself and his employees, but the dealership was nearing the capacity at its location on Lamar Blvd. Mark decided to sell the business to an industry upstart, America’s PowerSports (APS). APS consisted of a group of venture capitalists. Their hope was to create a company like CarMax, but one focused on the Powersports industry. The sale was finalized in 1999, and while the marriage had taken a while, the honeymoon did not last forever.
Next, APS acquired San Diego’s House of Motorcycles, Central Texas Harley-Davidson, and some other small dealerships in Texas. In 2002, Woods Fun Center moved to a new location at 11405 North IH 35 and then things ground to a halt. The economy was still feeling the effects of 9/11/2001, and recreational sales stalled. APS started to push hard for the sales of more vehicles, and they started to tighten the thumbscrews, insisting the General Managers at each dealership increase sales.
The only problem was the corporate office is located in Nashville, TN, while Woods Fun Center was still located in Austin. Just as it is hard to drive your car while you are sitting on the couch, it was not easy for the bosses in Nashville to tell Mark how to run the business in Texas. As corporate pushed for more unit sales, Austin continued to reel from the losses of thousands of jobs in the receding tech sector. In early 2004, corporate budgets and a local sales reality ended in a difference of opinion, resulting in the firing of Mark Woods from his GM position at Woods Fun Center.
Taking advantage of a good thing, Mark decided to take the opportunity to spend time with family (his son and daughter were just about to head off to college) and friends. He also spent many of his days fishing and hunting. It is rumored that the Texas Parks and Wildlife department wanted Mark to go back to work, as they feared that Texas would run out of fish if he did not.
After a couple of years, Mark was getting restless, and the Powersports industry continued to nip at his heels. Opportunities existed to purchase dealerships all over Texas, but Mark had the luxury of time. He wanted a dealership of just the right size, one that sold enough vehicles to make it fun, but not something like the monster assembly line that Woods Fun Center had turned into.
New Braunfels Cycle Country was a small dealership that had grown out of a used car lot and two friends (Randy and Todd) with great business sense and a drive to succeed. Originally, carrying only Polaris, over the years Randy and Todd had added Yamaha, Suzuki, and Victory motorcycles. They had also moved from a small dirt lot to a 17,000 square foot building located on I-35. As the business became unwieldy, Randy and Todd were looking for a partner, and a chance meeting with Mark in early 2006 quickly changed Mark from a shopper to a buyer.
Since February, many changes have occurred in the dealership. The most visible being the name change from New Braunfels Cycle Country to Woods Cycle Country, but there have been so many other changes that there is not room to list them here. As the dealership has begun to grow, one thing that we have no plans to change is the small town feel of the dealership.
So back to the starting question, what is our affiliation with Woods Fun Center? The answer is none. Woods Fun Center is managed by an on-site GM as well as a team of corporate support personnel located in Nashville, TN.
We like to think that we are different. We are family owned and operated. We sell vehicles to make our customers happy. Our goal is to offer great products at great prices while making a fair profit on the products we sell. We treat our employees and customers as part of our extended family, and we work hard to offer our customers a fun, family environment.
If you get the chance, make the drive to New Braunfels. Our processes are simple, and you will not leave our dealership feeling like a package that ended up on the assembly line. Our overhead is low, and we pass those savings on to you. Whether you are a price shopper, or looking for the entire experience, Woods Cycle Country can help.
Narrated by Mark J. Sheffield
