Gas prices, ‘green’ thinking boosts business at Kiddles
June 26, 2008
By LINDA BLASER
lblaser@pioneerlocal.com
The price of gas and an environmental consciousness has increased bike repair orders, bike sales and accessory sales at Kiddles Bike & Sport in Lake Forest to a 40-year high.
“I would say in the 40 years we’ve been here, we’ve never seen it like this,” said owner Jay Shlifka. “I’d say we’ve got a 10 to 15 percent increase in repairs alone.”
“We have hundreds of bikes down there,” sales manager and Jay’s son Lee Shlifka said last week of the repair shop in the store’s basement.
People are bringing in pretty much anything, he said, sometimes six to eight bikes at a time. “We’ve got old bikes that are 20- to 30-years-old that people are bringing in,” Lee Shlifka said.
The most common reason for seeking bike repairs or bike-related purchases is that people want to leave their car at home for in-town errands, Jay Shlifka said.
“That’s the big change this year over other years,” he said. “It’s the reason everyone is giving. They’re all saying the same thing.”
People “want to do the right thing,” he said. “They want to leave their car at home. It’s better for the environment. It saves on gasoline.”
Always high in the spring, new bikes sales also have increased more than expected, Jay Shlifka said. Hybrid bikes
“We always sell kids bikes. That’s always going to be a strong market. But this year we’re selling a lot more adult bikes — hybrids, a cross between a road bike and a mountain bike. They have a more upright position,” Lee Shlifkasaid.
In the years Shlifka has worked in and around his family’s bike and sport shop on Market Square, he has never seen anything like it.
“This time of year, we’re always busy. But this year, for sure, it’s surprising all the repairs and set-ups of new bikes we’ve had,” he said.
“People want to get on their bikes. They’re not driving as much. They’re taking their bike to the market, the library, the beach, on a picnic,” Lee Shlifka said.
That has prompted an increase in sales of front baskets, rear grocery bags and racks.
“You can’t get as much on a bike as you can in a car, but you can get a fair amount on your bike if you need to pick up a handful of things,” Lee Shlifka said. “People are doing what they can to get around without driving. It’s just snowballing.
To meet the growing need, a fifth bike repair person joined the staff in the last two weeks. That brings the repair team to two full-time and three part-time employees.
That should help with the workload, which ranges from basic tune-up to more extensive work on bikes that have been sitting for a while.
But customers don’t seem to mind the repair bill, when they compare that to the price of a gallon of gas and the effect short trips has on the environment.
“We’re getting a lot of work with the gas situation,” said Lee Shlifka.
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