Tami and Yosh Gould have been in the car business for years. They met in Springfield in 2007, she said, where they both worked in car sales. Yosh has had a car dealership in Springfield since 2012, where he also sells motor scooters.
In September of 2022, they bought a house in Clinton, and last August, the Goulds opened a motor scooter shop on North Main.
“It’s something Clinton didn’t have,” Yosh said. “I was told there was a man who sold scooters on the side of the road and did really well selling them. He just disappeared.”
The Goulds sell new scooters, both gas and battery-powered electric scooters, plus go-karts and dirt bikes. They have one scooter that has pedals you can pedal like a bicycle, then push a button to kick in the motor, Yosh said.. Scooter customers are in their mid-20s and up — state law requires you have a drivers’ license to operate a scooter so must be 16. Helmets are recommended, but not required.
“People mainly buy scooters to run around town,” Yosh said. “They are great for around town. One guy bought one to commute to work.”
One of the Cruisin’ to Clinton organizers bought a scooter to ride around the Square on Cruise nights, Yosh said. Another bought a stand-on scooter that has a handlebar that folds down, so you put it in your car.
“He uses it when he takes his grandchildren to the fairgrounds, so he can keep up with them,” Yosh said.
Scooters go a maximum of 35 mph, and get 80 miles to the gallon.
The 49 cc model is legal to ride on the streets, he said, but does not require registration or a special license.
Another reason the Goulds chose Clinton is because Tami grew up here. Tami Dennis, as she was, graduated from Clinton High School Class of 1986. She is the daughter of Marty Webb and bonus dad Jim Webb.
Tami works at Jim Falk Motors upstairs in the billing department.
“I’ve been in the car business for a long time, but I’ve learned so much working there,” Tami said. “Now cars are totally different.”
She loves the ladies she works with, she added.
The Goulds like the location of their business, at 116 N. Main, because it’s convenient to everything , Yosh said. He likes to walk down to Daylight Donuts for coffee and pastry, and to visit with the guys. He also stops off at Blue Ribbon Bakery on Monday mornings, when Daylight Donuts isn’t open, and he is on his way out of town to go to Springfield, where he spends the first part of the week at his dealership.
He likes coming back to Clinton, he said, where he’s away from the hustle and bustle of Springfield, and not at the beck and call of customers. He named his car business Roustabout Sales after an Elvis Presley movie.
“We love Elvis,” Tami said. “We went to Graceland two years ago.”
Yosh grew up on Table Rock Lake, and graduated from Reeds Spring High School. The scooter shop is named “JustBCuz,” the answer Yosh gives when anyone asks him why he decides to do something.
“I have been on my own since I was 15,” he explained. “I look at every situation from every possible angle.”
“JustBCuz” sums up his reasons after he weighs all the possibilities and decides what he wants to do, he said.
“This will end up being my retirement thing, or for my semi-retirement, I guess,” he said of the shop.
Yosh puts most of the scooters together, another thing he likes to do. He also collects antiques, which are on view in the back office, and include a selection of wooden chests, an old saxophone, and a large JP Coats spool cabinet. He likes to be around antiques, he said, but will also sell them.
During the cold snap this winter, the Goulds spent their indoor time watching Elvis movies, Tami said. She had been to Graceland when she was a child, she said, but when she went there two years ago, was surprised at how much the complex had grown. You could hardly see the house, she said, which this time they could go inside, unlike her earlier trip, and they enjoyed seeing Elvis’ car collection in the museum. They took the tram from the museum to the house, and put their names on the wall, Yosh said.
The trip was to pick up a car, he said, but turned into a mini-vacation, he said.
“We parked the truck and trailer at the motel and went sight-seeing for a few days,” he said.
The Goulds held a grand opening for JustBCuz, and set up a Facebook, and are getting lots of followers, Yosh said. They are involved in Cruisin’ to Clinton and plan to get more involved in the community, he said. Yosh thinks their storefront may have been an accounting office, but he also keeps finding paperwork about a photography business.
Stop by JustBCuz and meet Yosh and Tami on Thursdays and Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m, and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 417-569-6885 or go to the JustBCuz Facebook for more information.
