B efore my formal interview with Jason Thoms, I decided I wanted to get one or two of the Five Ws of journalism crossed off my list. I find this preliminary approach gives me more time to explore the H during what are often time-constrained conversations. This led to two chance encounters worthy of inclusion in this article, the first of which I’ll detail now and the second in the closing paragraphs. They’re fragments of exchanges that speak to the positivity that comes from a business that sells nothing but good times. The first Ottawa Goodtime Centre representative to field my questions was Isabel Fowles, the Accessories Manager. When I asked Isabel how long she’d been working with the Thoms’s, her answer was, more or less, “I wish I could have been working with them longer.” She recalled her first visit to the store as a customer “back in the ‘80s when it was located at Bank and Huron” and how much she “loved the atmosphere right away because the owner greeted people personally.” When Isabel went back to Ottawa Goodtime Centre a few weeks later, everyone “Hey Isabel, how’s the world been treating you?”
Life’s great when it’s all in the name. Non-drowsy. Extra spicy. Caffeine-free. Wet Floor. It’s nice to know what you’re getting. So when I first heard that I was going to be speaking with Jason Thoms, the Sales Manager at Ottawa Goodtime Centre, I knew I was in for either a good story or a few belly laughs. I got both. Jason is the son of Owners and General Managers Bryan and Zoi Thoms who in 1974 opened a modest motorcycle dealership out of the back of a garage in Canada’s capital. It wasn’t long until Ottawa Goodtime Centre outgrew its first set of tires. The young Thoms family then moved their bikes to a 6,500 square feet location on Bank Street, the major north-south road in Ottawa. They’ve since moved again – this time across the Rideau River to a 32,000 square feet motorcycle super
store at 450 West Hunt Club Road. In 42 years, Ottawa Goodtime Centre has become “the driving force behind motorcycling in Eastern Ontario, because it was built from the ground up by riders, for riders.”
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FEBRUARY 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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