Bike-Friendly St. Louis Maintains Area Shops Through Bad Times

In spite of the recession, which has certainly affected St. Louis County, at least one area of business is holding steady, if not growing.

A local bike shop used Facebook last week to dig up sales candidates.

Maplewood Bicycle is now accepting resumes for up to 5 full, part-time, or seasonal positions for the 2012 season. 2011 was the record breaking year in our 38-year history…

Calls to St. Louis bike shops indicate the Maplewood shop isn’t the only one doing well. Two factors could be responsible.

One is that St. Louis is becoming more bike-friendly, and the other is that St. Louis County’s economy is looking up.

“We’ve seen some pretty encouraging numbers the last few months.  It’s certainly trending in the right direction,” said Kathryn Jamboretz, with the St. Louis County Economic Council.

In addition to a decreasing unemployment rate for the county, now at 7.5 percent, St. Louis County has consistently remained below the national average, which is now at 8.2 percent, Jamboretz said. According to the United States Department of Labor, unemployment was 9.5 percent for the area in Nov. 2011, just over a year ago.

Then there’s the aspect that St. Louis is becoming more welcoming to biking.

Advocates from international to local are promoting the biking habit. America Online Inc. pays its employees up to $20 a month to bike-commute, and last year, Trailnet, a St. Louis bicycle advocacy group, opened its Downtown Bicycle Station, with 120 bike racks, showers and locker rooms for bike commuters.

“We’re becoming a more bike-friendly city,” said Tom Iannarelli, manager of the bike shop in , in Brentwood. “With all these bike organizations and advocates, all your bicycle riders really trying to live the life on a bike,” he said.

Iannarelli moved to St. Louis four years ago, and feared for his life when he rode. He said he's seen a big improvement in bike awareness, as well as more bike lanes.

At , owner Stewart Munson attributes the good business to his staff.

“I’ve been in the bike industry over 20 years,” he said. “We just have a perfect mix of employees right now. It’s mainly a good staff being nice to people.”

His shop specializes in high-end bikes, which he said is not as affected by the economy as lower-end markets. Bikes in his shop run into the multiple thousands of dollars.

Business is doing so well at , in Webster Groves, that it’s tearing down a wall and expanding by 40 percent into the space next door. Shop employees are doing the work on the expansion, so when it’s finished in Feb. or March, those workers will go back to selling bikes. No new hires.

“We’ll have a dressing room, a fitting area, and the displays will be much more appealing,” owner Ron Clipp said.

Fulltime employee Devon Clark said they had their best Dec. ever in 2011.

“We carry the whole range. The bulk of what we sell is for people to ride around town for fun,” Clark said.  He said they sponsor a racing team, and a lot of mountain bikers that come in.

At , in Des Peres, owner Jim Chappuis said last year was flat. Bike business goes with the weather, he said.

“We had all the rain in the spring and it was too hot in the summer,” he said. “I’ve been in business 45 years. That’s the way it is, and it’s still the same."

Jim Chappuis and his daughter, Becky Chappuis-Heltibrand own and operate the shop, which he opened in 1971.

Big Shark, near University City, general manager Dirk Sprogoe, said last year was good and business is slightly on the rise.

“You watch the news and fear the worst, ” Sprogoe said. “We’re trying to do the same things we’ve done in the past. We grew last year and the year before that, we prefer slow and steady.”

He said they’ve been in business for 19 years, and attributed the store’s size and customer base to its success. He said they hire seasonal workers when the weather gets warmer.

Adam Wall, manager at in Chesterfield, said business isn’t what they’d really like, but it’s staying steady.

“We saw it take a hit, but it’s taken a hit and stopped,” he said. “In the past couple years, we haven’t seen it go up or down, it stayed pretty level. We would definitely prefer more growth, but not growing is better than decreasing.”

He said they sell mainly to what he calls families–people looking to spend in the realm of $300 for a bike.

“My $1000 road bikes really aren’t selling as well,” Wall said. He said the high end bikes are now only about an eighth of his stock. Sunset Cyclery has been at the Chesterfield location about 12 years and in St. Louis for 15.

At REI, bike manager Tom Iannarelli said they didn’t really gain ground on bike sales, vs. the previous year, but they didn’t fall, either. He said it was about a half percent gain. He said the shop did very well on repairing bikes, though.

He said the shop sells bikes in the $400 to $1,000 range, what he calls beginner to intermediate, “Basically bikes that will get people out, enjoying the outdoors,” he said.