WASHINGTON — City Bikes Inc., which opened its Capitol Hill bike store and repair shop in 2011, is closing the 8th Street SE store March 27 after not being able to negotiate a lease extension.
City Bikes will also open a brand new location by the end of the month at 4810 Wisconsin Avenue, NW in the former Ourisman Volkswagen dealership’s space, which closed a year ago.
Taking over space previously held by a car dealership is giving City Bikes room to grow. It will include two separate stores — a City Bikes store selling regular bicycles and “ElectriCity Bikes,” a new store with a separate entrance selling electric bikes.
“We’ve been selling electric bikes in our stores for the past year or so, but I think it will be more powerful to have a dedicated shopping experience just for electric bikes,” general manager Saul Leiken tells WTOP.
In addition to 4,000 square feet of indoor space, divided into City Bikes, ElectriCity Bikes and a shop, the former car dealership also includes 4,000 square feet of outdoor space.
While some of that outdoor space will be used for parking, City Bikes’ long-term plan is to set up a mountain bike test track so buyers can test drive a mountain bike before buying it.
City Bikes’ Leiken says it is not ruling out a return to Capitol Hill in the future.
“We’ve loved doing business in such a locally-oriented community, and we are planning on coming back to the east side of town, when we find another space similar to the other shops at a rate sustainable for the bike business,” he said.
City Bikes opened its first bike store and repair shop in Adams Morgan in 1988. It has a third location on Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
