Parvilla Cycles Shop Opening in Edgewater

Parvilla Cycles will open Saturday in Edgewater. The shop will be located at the corner of Solomons Island Road and Pike Ridge Road in the space previously occupied by the convenience store, 7-11, which closed in January.

The owners of the shop, Iain Banks and Stu Waring, just started to look for a space for their shop in January. They knew they needed to work quickly to get everything set up for an early summer opening. Although many riders are year-round enthusiasts, the main season for cycling is during warm weather, and the two entrepreneurs wanted to capitalize on that for both their customers and their bottom line.

They secured the space and quickly got to work.

Waring is the former manager of the Bike Doctor store in Annapolis. He said that he had a vision for a store that could cater to serious cyclists and triatheletes as well as service, repair and sales.

They will carry the following brands of bicycles:

• Giant. The largest manufacturer of bicycles in the world. Giant makes everything from children's bikes and tricycles to $12,000 bikes.
• Guru. A high-end bicycle that is custom made. Each frame is hand built.
• Eddy Merckx Before Lance Armstrong, Eddy Merckx, a Belgian, was the winningest cyclist on the world circuit. He retired in 1978. Waring refers to these bikes as a "jewelry" line, meaning a very high-end bike that sells in he thousands.
• Orbea. A Spanish company that produces high-end carbon-fiber designs.

"We want to be a road and triathalon store, but also a family store," Waring said. The store will not carry BMX or mountain bikes.

In general, triatheletes are a growing niche in the cycling market. Waring is hopeful that positioning his store in an area that is so close to where riders actually ride will garner customers from near and far. Southern Anne Arundel County is a hot destination for riders. The long distances between traffic lights, paired with wide shoulders and rolling hills makes it an idea place to train.

The store will offer full service and repair, plus an assortment of riding gear, clothing, accessories, nutrition and more. They hope to also work with local riding events and teams.

In addition, the store will be a home for training and coaching. Already, they run a weekly 20-mile ride at 6 p.m. on Mondays. There is no cost for the ride.

"Just show up with your bike," Waring said.

They already have three coaches on staff, two of whom are USAC-certified.

By fall, they hope to have a fitting studio and a training center in place where cyclists can bring their own bikes to train over winter.

"We aim to be a destination store," Waring said.

On one final, local note, Parvilla is long known to Edgewaterians as the name of a family compound of the Parlett family. Waring and Banks are not related to the Parletts in any way. They just saw the name on a map and liked how it sounded.

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Parvilla Cycles, 3200 Solomons Island Road, Edgewater. 443-949-7130. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.