Local Bike Shop Profiled in American Express Commercial

Strictly Bicycles, operating in Fort Lee now for nearly twenty years and located at the gateway of prime bike routes for New York riders, has become a hub for tri-state area cyclists.

That broad and devoted clientele, along with Nelson and Joanna Gutierrez, the owners of the bustling shop, will hit the television airwaves as early as next week in a commercial for Open, the American Express small business credit card.

American Express picked Strictly Bicycles, Joanna said, from a list of 30 small businesses in the region that they were considering for a part of their series of ads profiling small business owners.

“They interviewed everyone and they thought ours was the best story and would make a good commercial,” she said.

Camera crews came to the Gutierrez house last week at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, normally the shop’s day off, to follow Nelson’s daily 12-mile bike ride from their Fair Lawn residence to open the store.

While cameras followed the start of the owner’s day, another crew simultaneously took footage of the shop, beginning an all-day production that closed down parts of the Palisades Interstate Park as well as the Hudson Terrace stretch in front of the store.

“It’s going to be great exposure, not only for the store but for Fort Lee as well,” Joanna says, noting the estimated two thousand cyclists that pass through the store on a given weekend from around the region. “This is the cycling Mecca for them.”

Fort Lee scenery will be prominently shown in the commercial, which shows about 40 friends, customers, and extras riding through parts of the park as well as whizzing past the glass storefront windows.

To emphasize Nelson’s commitment to cycling, and his willingness to ride through any weather, the production company had him ride through simulated rain in one segment.

The store, which sells apparel, bikes, and nutritional food as well as performing repairs, is also a hangout around which cycling enthusiasts can congregate and talk shop, Joanna says. And the all day production was just another way for the community that coalesces around the store’s coffee bar to promote their pastime.

“A lot of cyclists know each other, so it was a chance to get together for us,” said Maxim Almenas, one of the shop’s 16 employees.

In addition to providing the store a nice slice of free publicity, Joanna says she hopes it will also help publicize the activity that she and her husband are passionate about.

“I think it will just show that cycling is still a good sport,” Joanna said. “We work really hard to get people out there.”

The owners have been told that the 30 second television spot will likely begin airing next week, with an extended version, featuring a profile of the shop several minutes long, to be uploaded to the American Express website.