Bike Store Openings and Closings

[consularrider]

So I was looking at info on the Phoenix ride, and it seems there is now a place call Bicycles and Coffee in the old Trail's End bike shop space in Purcellville? Anyone know anything about it?

It's been there for at least four years, in the strip mall close to the McDonalds, and unless they moved since April, not in the old Trails End space. I try to stop in for a coffee anytime I am riding the full W&OD. We've had good conversations with the owners each time. It is a small store and sells several brands, but only limited inventory on display. Also limited stock of accessories.

[lordofthemark]

It's been there for at least four years, in the strip mall next close to the McDonalds, and unless they moved since April, not in the old Trails End space. I try to stop in for a coffee anytime I am riding the full W&OD. We've had good conversations with the owners each time. It is a small store and sells several brands, but only limited inventory on display. Also limited stock of accessories.

Pardon, I looked at the map too quickly. Never mind.

[Tania]

and unless they moved since April, not in the old Trails End space.

They haven't and they're (still) not.

[mikoglaces]

I have been to Bicycles and Coffee (formerly known as Veloville) often. It is not in the Trails End space. It is on E. Main Street, Rte. 7. So if you are on the trail heading out to Purcelville, when it crosses E. Main at the High School just a bit before it ends, you turn left on the road. Bicycles and Coffee is in a shopping center on the right in about 1/4 to 1/2 mile. The coffee is very good. The snacks are healthy stuff, not the scones and other things you'd get from most coffee shops. Pre-packaged stuff.

[ursus]

District Hardware and Bike which has been at the Wharf in DC the last two years will be closed permanently after today. https://wtop.com/dc/2019/11/after-48...e-permanently/

[Starduster]

District Hardware and Bike which has been at the Wharf in DC the last two years will be closed permanently after today. https://wtop.com/dc/2019/11/after-48...e-permanently/

This is sad. What we'll miss:

[Hancockbs]

District Hardware and Bike which has been at the Wharf in DC the last two years will be closed permanently after today. https://wtop.com/dc/2019/11/after-48...e-permanently/

Sad to say I guess I'm part of the reason. I ride by it most mornings and kept thinking I'd stop in one of these days, but never did. Now apparently I never will.

[ursus]

Sad to say I guess I'm part of the reason. I ride by it most mornings and kept thinking I stop in one of these days, but never did. Now apparently I never will.

I was thinking about that also. I only live a few blocks away, and I think I have had coffee there just three times. To the best of my recollection I once bought two bike tubes and I once bought a wrench. For some reason which I don't recall, I did not go there for the Hains Point 100 get-together early this year.

Then again, there seems to be a lot of turnover of businesses in the Wharf.

[Crickey7]

The rent had to have been ferocious. I used to patronize them at their old location. The wrenches were great about helping me get small parts that other bike shops couldn't be bothered with, like master links/pins.

[Starduster]

The rent had to have been ferocious. I used to patronize them at their old location. The wrenches were great about helping me get small parts that other bike shops couldn't be bothered with, like master links/pins.

I'm sure rent was a factor, but a bigger factor for the hardware store side was parking. Most of the parking barons in downtown DC charge $21 a day for garage parking, but the Wharf garage charges up to $45 for special events (say, at The Anthem), for very limited capacity. Or you park at L'Enfant Plaza and take the shuttle. For local residents who needed things that required their vehicle to transport, that was a problem.

They did say that the Café made it possible to hang in longer than they might have otherwise. That's a business model option for small independent bike shops who are trying to survive in a changing retail landscape.