In an April 10 email announcing the sale, Cranford said that he wasn’t too interested when Specialized first approached him, but as he thought about it, the sale made increasing sense. It removes the need to compete with suppliers and will allow the store to stock models that it had wanted to sell but hadn’t been able to acquire. Additionally, all Motion Makers employees have been offered jobs with an “amazing” benefits package that Cranford said he would never have been able to provide them. 

“Specialized wants MM as it is and for what we have created it to be,” Cranford wrote. “They have no desire to mess with what has been working and they aren’t going to be slapping big red S’ on the building or my staff. This is important!  It’s the same crew you love and trust minus me. Everyone was offered a job and they all accepted.”

Cranford said the transaction did not specify a role for him after the sale, but he is the landlord of the Sylva building and will still operate his fleet of Volkswagens. 

“Thank you to all of my friends for making this business a success,” Cranford wrote, “and I look forward to that continuing!”