May 1, 2017

Meet Aaron Gershenzon of Urban Kayaks in Chicago Riverwalk

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Gershenzon.

Aaron, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Well we all started off working for a competing kayak company. I was managing, and my brother (Asher) and best friend (James) were both working there with me. We quickly realized that we could open our own shop. So that’s what we did. We opened Urban Kayaks in August of 2011 with only 1-2 months left in the summer knowing we didn’t have much time to prove our model. Back then Groupon was extremely popular so we decided to try that. Three weeks before we even opened our doors we went up on Groupon. Within 24hrs we had pre-sold 5,000 tours and the rest was history. That was 2011.

Has it been a smooth road?
Not at all. In 2011 the Riverwalk had yet to be developed. We decided the best way to secure our space in downtown Chicago was to rent a shipping container. This would serve as our point of sale. So in 2011 we dropped down a 20 ft. cargo container on the Riverwalk and we had an office. Now we needed a secure storage area for our 50+ kayaks and equipment. Our plan here was to get a bunch of mobile fence units similar to the ones used on construction sites. So that’s what we did. We opened our doors with no power and no plumbing, but we were finally open which was great! For the first two years we operated without electricity which was quite a challenge.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We offer kayak tours and rentals on the Chicago River. The Chicago River is a very busy waterway with much commercial and recreational boat traffic. We are proud to offer kayakers use of the river in safe, family friendly environment. We pride ourselves in safety and great customer service and feel this sets us apart from others.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Yes. Absolutely. Chicago is a great place for businesses like ours. Chicago is working hard to develop the Riverwalk and downtown area. One of our main issues for us is Chicago weather. Being a seasonal business we are reliant heavily on weather, which in Chicago can be a little frustrating. We make it work though.

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