A young local staple just celebrated its one-year anniversary: Cycles & Cream. The business is on the square and has become a fan favorite in the community.
“We’re a full-service bike shop — we do new bike sales, service, repairs, and rentals. We also have an old-fashioned soda fountain and ice cream” Owner and founder Ben Hendershot said. “It’s really simple: cones, cups, shakes, and we make sodas just like they did back in the 1950s. That’s where the name Cycles of Cream came from. It just kind of hit me one day, and I ran with it.”
While the business is only a year old, Hendershot moved to Clinton a few years earlier. He quickly realized that there wasn’t anywhere he could go to satiate his biking hobby.
“I moved to Clinton a little over three years ago and realized there was really nowhere to get my bike worked on. I either had to go to Springfield or Kansas City to get to a legitimate bike shop. I thought that was bull and wanted to change it” Hendershot said.
Being new to Clinton, he also realized there wasn’t a local ice cream shop. Instead of making two separate stores, he combined them into one unique place. Now he has a little shop filled with tires, chocolate, and most days it has his 3-year-old daughter Mariah running around. He says the idea for this shop came to him on a long trip back from the West.
“I was driving back from a trip to Oklahoma City when it just hit me — Cycles & Cream. I woke up around 3 in the morning, bought the domain, and said, ‘Screw it. I’m going to do it.’ I never looked back” Hendershot said.
Now he is in the business of bicycles, but they have always been a part of his life. From when he was a young kid to after his time in the military, the hobby has always left a tread on his life.
“In high school, I was really competitive in the cycling world. After high school, a lot of my friends pursued it professionally, and I decided to join the Marine Corps. After getting out, it helped me a lot during tough times and struggling after several combat deployments” Hendershot said.
Before Cycles & Cream, he actually had some experience with growing a business from the ground up. His service inspired him to give back to fellow veterans like him by starting a non-profit organization.
“I helped start the Veterans Community Project back in 2016. We thought it would be a one-time thing — just build something in Kansas City and go back to our day jobs. But it took off. Now I manage our national construction efforts. We’re building tiny homes for homeless vets in cities all across the country” Hendershot said.
After two successes, he plans to open more businesses in the future right here in Clinton. While he doesn’t want to share his ideas yet, he believes his projects will bring something much needed to town in the next few years. However, he says none of his work would be possible without the support from the community.
“While the Katy Trail helps bring in some business, we wouldn’t be here without the local support. This place survives because of the community of Clinton, not just tourism” Hendershot said.
His plans seem never-ending. As a kid, he moved around from place to place, but Clinton has been his landing zone for a few years now, with one successful business and more planned for the future. He has one piece of advice for anyone else who may share his drive to start a little shop like his.
“You’ve got to be just smart enough to figure it out, and just dumb enough to do it. That’s really the secret to starting a business. There’s never a perfect time — you’ve just got to jump off the ledge and commit” Hendershot said.
