Chad and Julie Jansen are shown with their 2024 Grow Clinton Community Cornerstone Award outside The Bicycle Station & Jensen Oil Company, Clinton, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 1. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
CLINTON, Iowa – Chad Jensen is a businessman who appreciates the past, but is also looking to the future. His Clinton business – called The Bicycle Station & Jensen Oil Company – has a long history in the community. His family started at the business in 1948 when it was an auto service station. It […]
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CLINTON, Iowa – Chad Jensen is a businessman who appreciates the past, but is also looking to the future.His Clinton business – called The Bicycle Station & Jensen Oil Company – has a long history in the community. His family started at the business in 1948 when it was an auto service station. It later transformed into a business that sells and repairs bicycles, and also continued to do some auto service jobs.
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The 2024 Grow Clinton Community Cornerstone Award is presented to Chad and Julie Jansen at The Bicycle Station & Jensen Oil Company, Clinton, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 1. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
Adam Kruse of Clinton, Iowa, works on a bicycle at The Bicycle Station & Jensen Oil Company in Clinton. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
Chad and Julie Jansen are shown inside The Bicycle Station & Jensen Oil Company, Clinton, Iowa. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
This is The Bicycle Station & Jensen Oil Company, Clinton, Iowa, on Thursday, Aug. 1. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
“I’ve had so many great customers over the past 75 years. … This is a great community,” Mr. Jensen said Thursday, Aug. 1, as his family business received the 2024 Grow Clinton Community Cornerstone Award.Around 25 people from the Clinton business community were on hand for the award presentation at The Bicycle Station & Jensen Oil Company, located at 218 Main Ave. on the north side of Clinton. The business is in the vibrant neighborhood called the Lyons Business District.During the brief award ceremony, Andy Sokolovich, president and CEO of Grow Clinton, congratulated Mr. Jensen and his wife, Julie, for “waking up every morning and being awesome.”Mr. Sokolovich added “The Cornerstone Award recognizes the longevity of a local business in the greater Clinton region. The Bicycle Station & Jensen Oil Company have proven successful through multiple generations, demonstrating the wholesome roots of a family-run business. Their service quality matches the team’s love for the Clinton community, and I look forward to witnessing the continuation of a legacy in the Lyons Business District.” That family’s legacy with the business started on Sept. 28, 1948, when Bill Jensen opened the Jensen Oil Company at its current site. From that start, the auto repair and service business continued in the Jensen family. On Sept. 28, 1968, he sold the business to his son, Fred Jensen, and Fred sold the business to his son, Chad, on Sept. 28, 1998.Chad Jensen transformed the business by adding bicycle service and sales, but still offering some auto services, such as oil changes. He also officially changed the name of the family business to The Bicycle Station & Jensen Oil Company.“The shop is a bustling place, as always. Even with the changes over the years, Jensen Oil Company still offers Mobile products. The Bicycle Station has realized great success and continues to grow,” according to information about the 2024 Grow Clinton Community Cornerstone Award.The history and legacy of the business can also be seen with some of the quirky and interesting items in and around the business. Some of them include:
An old pinball machine in the front office. “That helps us from getting too productive,” Mr. Jensen joked.
Artwork painted on a wall outside the business that states: “Due to inflation, our air is now twice as free.”
The front office features two shelves filled with old soft drink bottles. The bottom shelf features drinks – such as Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Nesbitt’s – that were once sold at the business. The top shelf has old soft drink bottles donated to the business by family and friends.
A framed poster on the wall that advertises a football game from Oct. 1, 1927, between Lyons High School and Clinton High School.
A round, wooden table featuring several sets of initials carved in it that came from another Clinton business. The table was passed down through friends and family members and eventually ended up at The Bicycle Station. “That table is older than everybody in this room,” said Mr. Jensen as about a dozen people from the business community gathered in the office before Thursday’s award ceremony.
The glass display case features more than 20 old oil cans as a nod to the company’s history. Mr. Jensen said some of them date back to the early part of last century.
But not everything at the Clinton business is about the past. Mr. Jensen is also about keeping up with the times and providing services today’s customers want and need. For instance, on Thursday, Adam Kruse, one of the employees at the business, was busy working on a new bicycle for a child. And Mr. Jensen was telling customers about the advantages of the new electric bicycles. He’s also offering a $100 discount on all in-stock e-bikes at his business.He added that the success of the business has centered on keeping up with the times, and remembering the many family members who have helped the business proposer over the decades.“There have been lots of other family members who have been doing this. … It’s worked out well,” Mr. Jensen added.
