Andre Chelliah is one of our shop superstars. Not only is he one of our best custom bike salespeople, Andre is passionate about all things cycling. He's always willing to lend a hand and able to instantly put our customers at ease.
We recently sat down with Andre to learn more about his work history, retail philosophy, and all things style related.
1. How did you end up at Mellow Johnny's? Can you give us a summary of your work history?
Mellow Johnny’s has been a dream job of mine since I moved to Austin to attend school at The University of Texas. Previous to Mellow Johnny’s, I worked at Freewheeling bicycles. Freewheeling was the oldest bike shop in Austin before they closed in 2013. I owe a lot of my understanding of the rich bike culture in Austin to the owner, Angie Prescott.
2. Everyone one of our staff seem to have their own retail philosophy. Care to explain how you approach a bike sale?
For myself and a lot of my coworkers, bikes represent more than just a way to get from point A to point B. Bikes represent the unique, timeless experience that is cycling. I try my best to convey this positive lifestyle to a customer looking to buy a new bicycle. Not only am I trying to find a bike that will suit all their immediate needs, I’m looking to help them find a bike that they will still love years down the road, when the passion of cycling has become a part of their life. This is the crux of what we call the “MJ’s experience”.
3. Alright, these are basic questions and I can see that you have more to say. As our resident expert on all things stylish, how about we change the standard employee profile format and I'll ask you a series of quickfire questions on cycling style. You into that?
Awesome! Let’s get it.
4. Great. Here are a series of yes/no questions for you. To make it a bit more challenging, and since you run our Instagram page, I'm only allowing you to answer in hashtags, .gifs or images. For those of you who are lost, this is how the millenials communicate these days.