After nearly 20 years of operation at 290 North Beach Street in downtown Daytona, Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Harley-Davidson Museum and Store has announced it will not renew its lease at the end of 2013, according to a report from The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Shelly Rossmeyer Pepe, general manager for Rossmeyer’s Daytona Harley-Davidson, revealed to the News-Journal that the museum will move to the Destination Daytona complex off of I-95 in Ormond Beach, and that a new Harley-Davidson store will open in the 500 block of Main Street in Daytona. Rossmeyer Pepe hinted at the fact that the museum’s relocation follows her late father Bruce Rossmeyer’s “original plan” to move it to the 150-acre Destination Daytona complex, which has gotten a spectacular response from local business owners and consumers since its founding some eight years ago in Ormond Beach. Bruce, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2009, started the Beach Street location as a Harley dealership, but closed its doors in 2011 and revamped it to become a year-round motorcycle history museum and merchandise store, while selling bikes at the location only during Bike Week and Biketoberfest.
Main Street business owners are optimistic the move will mean big things for their establishments and welcome the Rossmeyers’ move to the area. However, proprietors over on North Beach Street are understandably concerned about what the move will mean to their businesses and, more importantly, the neighborhood as a whole. Concerns of more empty buildings and vacant lots, as well as a loss of consumer traffic, are already creeping into the heads of local Beach Street business owners, according to the News-Journal. While it’s still unclear as to what the future plans are for the former home to all-things Harley in downtown Daytona for the last 19 years, the News-Journal reports that the owners of the North Beach Street building are mulling over their options. The News-Journal reports that long-term plans seem to point at private residences, as that part of town has been “targeted for residential uses in the city’s master plan,” according to Al Smith, chairman of Daytona’s Downtown Ballough Road Redevelopment Area Board.
Rossmeyer Pepe reported to the News-Journal that everything in the museum will be moved to the second floor of the 109,000-square-foot dealership at Destination Daytona and will open sometime in early 2014. The new merchandise store will be located at 510 Main Street and will primarily feature T-shirts and clothing, along with assorted Harley-Davidson merchandise and memorabilia. The North Beach Street location will remain open throughout 2013, so stop in, pick up a T-shirt, check out the museum and give the folks at Rossmeyer’s your best wishes on their new endeavor for 2014.
