Pretty tight quarters eh? Yes indeed. How can I describe the shop in the middle of a busy summer day? Controlled Chaos. We’ve steadily been getting busier and busier each season at the shop. We’ve been putting up numbers that compete with some of our other stores that are 3 times our size. We call ourselves “The little engine that could” of Erik’s Bike Shop. We’ve tried to make accommodations for all the repair bikes by shifting benches around, adding a wall, adding more hooks. But the bottom line is, we need more space. Maple Grove is a boomtown of retail, restaurants, and people. It seemed only fitting we too would get and upgrade at some point. Things were finally put into motion about 3 weeks ago. Its an exciting time. We’re pushing the entire front wall out about 20 feet or so. Remodeling the inside, and getting a new shop setup. Rumor has it that we’ll be getting all new tools. Ah, new tools. The bicycle mechanics “drug” of choice. We get giddy at the possibility of new tools. I was helping setting up the new Erik’s Mega store in Woodbury last Friday night. New tools galore. We literally are like kids in candy stores. Only replace kids with obsessive, meticulous shop mechanics, and candy with tools. I was jealous of those guys getting to setup a new shop. I was just there to help out and was out on the sales floor most of the time. But in just a few months I’ll be doing the same thing at our shop. Can’t wait. Park Tool could start a slogan for shop mechanics to get them hooked. It could be something along the lines of “Park Tool, just one taste, and you’re hooked for life.”
Gone are the days of hitting my head numerous times a day on a handlebar, tool, hook, or a bench. Gone are the days of getting what I can only think are “shin splints” in my forearms from having to hang bikes and take them down standing in awkward positions. Good grief that started to hurt on a daily basis. Gone are the days of having so many bikes, that we would have to start leaning them up against other bikes hanging on the wall. Gone are the days of passageways that bikes can barely fit through. Yup, its gonna be a good year next year. But you folks are going to have to wait for awhile. We’ll be closed for about 2 months. Jan-Feb. Then hopefully open back up sometime in March. All this bike talk makes me wanna go out an pedal. Alas, my bum knee won’t allow it, and I don’t ride in the snow. So, time to get those cross country skis out. Cheers.
