Our Story
In 2000, Ozzie Giglio (a long time Harley enthusiast) and his wife Jill sought to purchase Wild Fire Harley-Davidson® (then known as Villa Park Harley-Davidson®) in Villa Park, Illinois, a middle-class suburb of Chicago. The impetus for this came from their desire to significantly improve the Harley-Davidson® customer experience, which was on a steady decline. Years of double-digit sales growth had created an unprecedented lack of supply in the market place. Waiting lists to purchase motorcycles led to a growing arrogance among dealers at the time (including Villa Park H-D, prior to acquisition) which routinely charged up to $5,000 over Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price for new H-D motorcycles. Ozzie and Jill’s first move was to change the name.
Jill coined the name Wild Fire with the belief that if they provided a world class customer experience their new-found friendly reputation would spread like “wildfire.” And over the first couple years, as they navigated the nuance of running a motorcycle store, that is pretty much what happened. They engaged in fair pricing, dedicated themselves to providing exceptional customer service and created a fun and exciting atmosphere. They opened seven days per week for customer convenience (new to the industry) and simply treated people with respect and dignity.
In 2003, buoyed by strong performance, the store underwent a major facility expansion bringing the total square footage to nearly 40,000, and an employee count of approximately 35. In 2005, WC-F envisioned another opportunity and opened Windy City Harley-Davidson®, a MotorClothes only boutique, located in Terminal 3 at nearby O’Hare International Airport. This proved to be an immense and immediate success providing domestic and international travelers a convenient opportunity to purchase Genuine H-D apparel and memorabilia. The Harley-Davidson Bar & Shield logo is a beacon to all travelers.
In 2005, Harley-Davidson® Motor Company (HDMC) adopted a major policy change that would profoundly impact the trajectory of WC-F’s business. HDMC would, for the first time, permit two dealerships to be owned by a single operator in a single market. HDMC’s reasoning was that its dealers would require increasing levels of sophistication to remain viable in the (then) current difficult economic conditions, and that a larger, stronger dealer/operator would likely be able to invest more heavily in infrastructure, operations and employee training. The traditional “Mom & Pop” shop, while appealing on an emotional level, was ill-equipped to compete in the new economy. In 2007, WC-F had the opportunity to purchase a dealership then known as Suburban Harley-Davidson® of Palatine, Illinois.
The dealership had an ever-shrinking market place and was experiencing difficult economic conditions in the down market. WC-F purchased and renamed the dealership City Limits Harley-Davidson®. In 2008, WC-F moved the business out of the aged and cramped building that had seen no renovation for almost 30 years and into a newly constructed 52,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art facility. The business thrived, doubling in revenues, almost immediately. By 2008, with Wild Fire Harley-Davidson® and City Limits Harley-Davidson®, WC-F had 65 employees and approximately $25M in annual revenues.
Its combined operations provided the platform to initiate better and more formal employee training, professionalize marketing, hire a CFO and focus on what makes growth possible - superior customer service. The bones of The Windy City Motorcycle Company, now known as Windy City-Fox Motorsports, LLC (WC-F) were taking shape. Jill emerged as the senior day-to-day operator as Ozzie focused on banking relationships, the relationship with HDMC and potential acquisitions. As a Navy Reservist, things were a bit complex for Ozzie at times, as he was called to active service on multiple occasions, in connection with the conflicts in the Middle East.
However, with a great team of dedicated associates, Jill and company pressed on. This was also a time of dramatically shifting economic conditions. Almost overnight, Harley-Davidson® went from a company that could not keep up with demand to a company that faced a massive inventory glut. Gone were the days of five customers for every bike.
Now there were five bikes for every customer. Service and customer experience were the keys to success. The 2000 vision of the WC-F founders was proving its merit. In fact, the customer loyalty exhibited to the WC-F dealerships was so powerful that customers actually got tattoos displaying their favorite dealership names! In 2010, HDMC recognized that market conditions in the Chicagoland area could not sustain the number of dealerships that had been established.
Crete Harley-Davidson® was closed and a number of others were struggling. WC-F saw an opportunity to grow its business and acquired two under-performing suburban dealerships - Oak Lawn Harley-Davidson® of Oak Lawn, IL, and Illinois Harley-Davidson® of Berwyn, IL., and combined the two dealerships into one modern, new facility, centrally located in Countryside, IL. They retained the name Illinois Harley-Davidson®, as an homage to an institution that had been an operating Harley-Davidson® dealership for over 75 years, owned the last 40 years by the same family. In 2011, WC-F recognized that Zylstra Harley-Davidson® of St. Charles, IL was experiencing significant economic stress.
In 2007, Zylstra had completed construction of an 80,000 square foot building. However, by 2009, the motorcycle market was in terrible turmoil. Many single owner dealers were in desperate straits. In 2010, Zylstra only sold fewer than 300 motorcycles.
This was hardly enough to support the burden of the real estate they had developed. WC-F acquired the business in 2011 renaming it Fox River Harley-Davidson®. (In 2016 FRHD was on pace to sell nearly 1,000 motorcycle) In 2013, WC-F had four Harley-Davidson® dealerships, an O’Hare Airport retail presence and the newly added Windy City Triumph dealership. - all thriving. WC-F seemed to be at a crossroads: should WC-F maintain its position, continue doing what served it well and preserve the status quo? Or adopt a growth strategy, develop and further professionalize its operations, and execute on the vision to build a world class organization.
Forge ahead. In December of 2015, the dye was cast. Starved Rock H-D in Ottawa Illinois had been struggling for quite some time. And WC-F saw the opportunity to breathe life into the one time destination location. WC-F closed on that deal in December of 2015 and by 2017, the dealership was ranked a Platinum Dealer by HDMC (1 of 6 of the top performing dealers in the Nation). Shortly thereafter, in June 2016, WC-F acquired DeKalb Harley-Davidson® of DeKalb, IL, later renamed Barbed Wire Harley-Davidson®. WC-F also negotiated a $40M multi-year credit facility with Wintrust Bank, which included a revolving line of credit to support continued operations, as well as an acquisition line of credit to support continued growth of the organization.
In late 2016, WCMC acquired Milwaukee H-D “The opportunity to own a dealership so steeped in Harley’s roots is like being bestowed a sacred responsibility,” suggested Giglio, “a responsibility we intend to live up to!” 2017 began with a flurry of activity as WC-F opened its second MotorClothes only store in the Stratford Square Mall, Bloomingdale, IL.
WC-F also acquired the Woodstock H-D group with locations in Woodstock and McHenry IL and Lake Geneva, WI. With this acquisition, WC-F was identified by Powersports News as among the largest (by sales volume) motorcycle distributors in the US.
In December of 2018, adding to its ever-expanding operation, WC-F added BMW and Royal Enfield motorcycles to is OEM providers. These dealerships are now open in St. Charles, IL.
In February 2019, Windy City Motorcycle Company announced its partnership with Fox Powersports and formation of Windy City-Fox Motorsports to serve the Greater Chicagoland Harley-Davidson retail market and position the iconic Harley-Davidson brand for continued success in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Windy City-Fox Motorsports includes all of the current Windy City Motorcycle Company and Milwaukee Motorcycle Company dealerships combined with Fox’s Lakeshore Harley-Davidson, Chicago Harley-Davidson (to be relocated to Rosemont, IL), and Chicago Harley-Davidson of Wrigleyville.
WC-F recently completed a 20,000 square foot facility in the Village of Rosemont. It houses Chicago Harley-Davidson® (moved from Glenview, IL) and the WC-F corporate offices (moving from St. Charles, IL). It also is the central location for travel and tours of motorcycles for national and international travelers. The Rentals and Tours operations is expected to attract more than 20,000 international travelers annually. WC-F operates its own fleet for rentals and tours.
WC-F’s dealerships now encompass over 60% of the greater Chicago Metropolitan area and a large swath of Northern Illinois, as well as the greater Milwaukee area.
The opportunity to complete the dream proved too powerful to resist. Between Ozzie’s frequent deployments and Military commitments, and Jill’s involvement with day-to-day operations, the company needed help to nurture its growth. Ozzie realized that to maximize the group’s potential, some adjustments to the management team would be necessary.
“I knew as we got bigger we would have to adopt a more traditional corporate structure. Fortunately, our size allowed us to justify a C-Suite of professional level executives. Further, it was becoming obvious that as we grew larger we could leverage that into an increasingly superior consumer experience,” Ozzie said.
With a CFO in place, Ozzie began the search for a C-level operator capable of seamlessly taking the reins of the daily operations. The search went a few different ways but ultimately culminated with the late 2018 hiring of a President with a variety of related and industry experience. Ozzie recognized the need to truly professionalize the senior operational team. This led to Mike Shedivy as President.
Mike was a senior executive at Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC) for 15 years where he held various roles including strategic planning, marketing, category management and business development. Mike spent most of his career at Brunswick working in their marine engine division, Mercury Marine. Most notably Mike served as President - Mercury Marine in Europe, Middle East and Africa serving a network of over 6000 dealers. During his time in Europe, Mike was on the board of Bella Boats, a family owned boat builder located in Finland. He also spent time consulting with Harley-Davidson Motor Company.
Mike’s hiring was further complimented with the hiring of Matt Sheahan as Vice President of Sales. Matt comes with a strong background in the motorcycle industry with over 15 years of experience, most recently holding the position of Chief Operating Officer for Triumph Motorcycles America. Prior to his time at Triumph, he was Lead Design Engineer for Buell Motorcycle Company where he prepared and executed strategic and tactical plans that led the organization through efficient new motorcycle model development programs.
“Having a network of dealerships allows us to provide a level of customer service typically not available under the traditional franchise system,” Ozzie said. “For example, we can offer returns or exchanges across any of our dealerships as well as offer Customer Rewards, and other great perks that riders can accumulate much faster. A customer can test ride a bike from one store to another, exchange bikes and ride back. Our service support for riders within our trading area is unparalleled. But further, our immediately available inventory of motorcycles and parts and accessories has increased exponentially.”
In short, the network is able to provide ever increasing levels of support to its customer base. This once small operator now employs more than 400 people, teaches approximately 2200 students a year to ride motorcycles, delivers more than 5,500 motorcycles per year and is one of the largest OEM motorcycle retailers in the world. The company went from a modest annual revenue of $6M to an expected $150M in 2020, and has experienced a 25% year-over-year growth from its organic operations.
WC-F has won multiple Harley-Davidson® Bar & Shield Awards, recognized by Harley-Davidson Motor Company among the top performing elite dealerships in the country. These coveted awards are earned only by the top dealerships in the nation for revenues and customer satisfaction.
WC-F is actively pursuing other acquisitions but Giglio insists, “We will not grow just for the sake of growth. We will add dealerships only when there is a clear synergy.
“Our priority is providing a ‘World Class’ customer experience.” Jill Giglio concludes, “We didn’t necessarily strive to become the biggest, just the best. We’ve grown the way we have by successfully maintaining the ‘Mom & Pop’ feel at our stores while heightening customer service levels and offering fair prices. Additionally, we have sought out the most skilled and talented professionals in the industry—who are as committed as we are—to providing a superior experience for each and every customer who may grace any of our establishments. It’s a tried and true formula and we have found that, if you don’t skip steps: It works!
Jill coined the name Wild Fire with the belief that if they provided a world class customer experience their new-found friendly reputation would spread like “wildfire.” And over the first couple years, as they navigated the nuance of running a motorcycle store, that is pretty much what happened. They engaged in fair pricing, dedicated themselves to providing exceptional customer service and created a fun and exciting atmosphere. They opened seven days per week for customer convenience (new to the industry) and simply treated people with respect and dignity.
In 2003, buoyed by strong performance, the store underwent a major facility expansion bringing the total square footage to nearly 40,000, and an employee count of approximately 35. In 2005, WC-F envisioned another opportunity and opened Windy City Harley-Davidson®, a MotorClothes only boutique, located in Terminal 3 at nearby O’Hare International Airport. This proved to be an immense and immediate success providing domestic and international travelers a convenient opportunity to purchase Genuine H-D apparel and memorabilia. The Harley-Davidson Bar & Shield logo is a beacon to all travelers.
In 2005, Harley-Davidson® Motor Company (HDMC) adopted a major policy change that would profoundly impact the trajectory of WC-F’s business. HDMC would, for the first time, permit two dealerships to be owned by a single operator in a single market. HDMC’s reasoning was that its dealers would require increasing levels of sophistication to remain viable in the (then) current difficult economic conditions, and that a larger, stronger dealer/operator would likely be able to invest more heavily in infrastructure, operations and employee training. The traditional “Mom & Pop” shop, while appealing on an emotional level, was ill-equipped to compete in the new economy. In 2007, WC-F had the opportunity to purchase a dealership then known as Suburban Harley-Davidson® of Palatine, Illinois.
The dealership had an ever-shrinking market place and was experiencing difficult economic conditions in the down market. WC-F purchased and renamed the dealership City Limits Harley-Davidson®. In 2008, WC-F moved the business out of the aged and cramped building that had seen no renovation for almost 30 years and into a newly constructed 52,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art facility. The business thrived, doubling in revenues, almost immediately. By 2008, with Wild Fire Harley-Davidson® and City Limits Harley-Davidson®, WC-F had 65 employees and approximately $25M in annual revenues.
Its combined operations provided the platform to initiate better and more formal employee training, professionalize marketing, hire a CFO and focus on what makes growth possible - superior customer service. The bones of The Windy City Motorcycle Company, now known as Windy City-Fox Motorsports, LLC (WC-F) were taking shape. Jill emerged as the senior day-to-day operator as Ozzie focused on banking relationships, the relationship with HDMC and potential acquisitions. As a Navy Reservist, things were a bit complex for Ozzie at times, as he was called to active service on multiple occasions, in connection with the conflicts in the Middle East.
However, with a great team of dedicated associates, Jill and company pressed on. This was also a time of dramatically shifting economic conditions. Almost overnight, Harley-Davidson® went from a company that could not keep up with demand to a company that faced a massive inventory glut. Gone were the days of five customers for every bike.
Now there were five bikes for every customer. Service and customer experience were the keys to success. The 2000 vision of the WC-F founders was proving its merit. In fact, the customer loyalty exhibited to the WC-F dealerships was so powerful that customers actually got tattoos displaying their favorite dealership names! In 2010, HDMC recognized that market conditions in the Chicagoland area could not sustain the number of dealerships that had been established.
Crete Harley-Davidson® was closed and a number of others were struggling. WC-F saw an opportunity to grow its business and acquired two under-performing suburban dealerships - Oak Lawn Harley-Davidson® of Oak Lawn, IL, and Illinois Harley-Davidson® of Berwyn, IL., and combined the two dealerships into one modern, new facility, centrally located in Countryside, IL. They retained the name Illinois Harley-Davidson®, as an homage to an institution that had been an operating Harley-Davidson® dealership for over 75 years, owned the last 40 years by the same family. In 2011, WC-F recognized that Zylstra Harley-Davidson® of St. Charles, IL was experiencing significant economic stress.
In 2007, Zylstra had completed construction of an 80,000 square foot building. However, by 2009, the motorcycle market was in terrible turmoil. Many single owner dealers were in desperate straits. In 2010, Zylstra only sold fewer than 300 motorcycles.
This was hardly enough to support the burden of the real estate they had developed. WC-F acquired the business in 2011 renaming it Fox River Harley-Davidson®. (In 2016 FRHD was on pace to sell nearly 1,000 motorcycle) In 2013, WC-F had four Harley-Davidson® dealerships, an O’Hare Airport retail presence and the newly added Windy City Triumph dealership. - all thriving. WC-F seemed to be at a crossroads: should WC-F maintain its position, continue doing what served it well and preserve the status quo? Or adopt a growth strategy, develop and further professionalize its operations, and execute on the vision to build a world class organization.
Forge ahead. In December of 2015, the dye was cast. Starved Rock H-D in Ottawa Illinois had been struggling for quite some time. And WC-F saw the opportunity to breathe life into the one time destination location. WC-F closed on that deal in December of 2015 and by 2017, the dealership was ranked a Platinum Dealer by HDMC (1 of 6 of the top performing dealers in the Nation). Shortly thereafter, in June 2016, WC-F acquired DeKalb Harley-Davidson® of DeKalb, IL, later renamed Barbed Wire Harley-Davidson®. WC-F also negotiated a $40M multi-year credit facility with Wintrust Bank, which included a revolving line of credit to support continued operations, as well as an acquisition line of credit to support continued growth of the organization.
In late 2016, WCMC acquired Milwaukee H-D “The opportunity to own a dealership so steeped in Harley’s roots is like being bestowed a sacred responsibility,” suggested Giglio, “a responsibility we intend to live up to!” 2017 began with a flurry of activity as WC-F opened its second MotorClothes only store in the Stratford Square Mall, Bloomingdale, IL.
WC-F also acquired the Woodstock H-D group with locations in Woodstock and McHenry IL and Lake Geneva, WI. With this acquisition, WC-F was identified by Powersports News as among the largest (by sales volume) motorcycle distributors in the US.
In December of 2018, adding to its ever-expanding operation, WC-F added BMW and Royal Enfield motorcycles to is OEM providers. These dealerships are now open in St. Charles, IL.
In February 2019, Windy City Motorcycle Company announced its partnership with Fox Powersports and formation of Windy City-Fox Motorsports to serve the Greater Chicagoland Harley-Davidson retail market and position the iconic Harley-Davidson brand for continued success in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Windy City-Fox Motorsports includes all of the current Windy City Motorcycle Company and Milwaukee Motorcycle Company dealerships combined with Fox’s Lakeshore Harley-Davidson, Chicago Harley-Davidson (to be relocated to Rosemont, IL), and Chicago Harley-Davidson of Wrigleyville.
WC-F recently completed a 20,000 square foot facility in the Village of Rosemont. It houses Chicago Harley-Davidson® (moved from Glenview, IL) and the WC-F corporate offices (moving from St. Charles, IL). It also is the central location for travel and tours of motorcycles for national and international travelers. The Rentals and Tours operations is expected to attract more than 20,000 international travelers annually. WC-F operates its own fleet for rentals and tours.
WC-F’s dealerships now encompass over 60% of the greater Chicago Metropolitan area and a large swath of Northern Illinois, as well as the greater Milwaukee area.
The opportunity to complete the dream proved too powerful to resist. Between Ozzie’s frequent deployments and Military commitments, and Jill’s involvement with day-to-day operations, the company needed help to nurture its growth. Ozzie realized that to maximize the group’s potential, some adjustments to the management team would be necessary.
“I knew as we got bigger we would have to adopt a more traditional corporate structure. Fortunately, our size allowed us to justify a C-Suite of professional level executives. Further, it was becoming obvious that as we grew larger we could leverage that into an increasingly superior consumer experience,” Ozzie said.
With a CFO in place, Ozzie began the search for a C-level operator capable of seamlessly taking the reins of the daily operations. The search went a few different ways but ultimately culminated with the late 2018 hiring of a President with a variety of related and industry experience. Ozzie recognized the need to truly professionalize the senior operational team. This led to Mike Shedivy as President.
Mike was a senior executive at Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC) for 15 years where he held various roles including strategic planning, marketing, category management and business development. Mike spent most of his career at Brunswick working in their marine engine division, Mercury Marine. Most notably Mike served as President - Mercury Marine in Europe, Middle East and Africa serving a network of over 6000 dealers. During his time in Europe, Mike was on the board of Bella Boats, a family owned boat builder located in Finland. He also spent time consulting with Harley-Davidson Motor Company.
Mike’s hiring was further complimented with the hiring of Matt Sheahan as Vice President of Sales. Matt comes with a strong background in the motorcycle industry with over 15 years of experience, most recently holding the position of Chief Operating Officer for Triumph Motorcycles America. Prior to his time at Triumph, he was Lead Design Engineer for Buell Motorcycle Company where he prepared and executed strategic and tactical plans that led the organization through efficient new motorcycle model development programs.
“Having a network of dealerships allows us to provide a level of customer service typically not available under the traditional franchise system,” Ozzie said. “For example, we can offer returns or exchanges across any of our dealerships as well as offer Customer Rewards, and other great perks that riders can accumulate much faster. A customer can test ride a bike from one store to another, exchange bikes and ride back. Our service support for riders within our trading area is unparalleled. But further, our immediately available inventory of motorcycles and parts and accessories has increased exponentially.”
In short, the network is able to provide ever increasing levels of support to its customer base. This once small operator now employs more than 400 people, teaches approximately 2200 students a year to ride motorcycles, delivers more than 5,500 motorcycles per year and is one of the largest OEM motorcycle retailers in the world. The company went from a modest annual revenue of $6M to an expected $150M in 2020, and has experienced a 25% year-over-year growth from its organic operations.
WC-F has won multiple Harley-Davidson® Bar & Shield Awards, recognized by Harley-Davidson Motor Company among the top performing elite dealerships in the country. These coveted awards are earned only by the top dealerships in the nation for revenues and customer satisfaction.
WC-F is actively pursuing other acquisitions but Giglio insists, “We will not grow just for the sake of growth. We will add dealerships only when there is a clear synergy.
“Our priority is providing a ‘World Class’ customer experience.” Jill Giglio concludes, “We didn’t necessarily strive to become the biggest, just the best. We’ve grown the way we have by successfully maintaining the ‘Mom & Pop’ feel at our stores while heightening customer service levels and offering fair prices. Additionally, we have sought out the most skilled and talented professionals in the industry—who are as committed as we are—to providing a superior experience for each and every customer who may grace any of our establishments. It’s a tried and true formula and we have found that, if you don’t skip steps: It works!