LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — While many businesses took a hard hit during the pandemic, there's one industry that saw an uptick. Local bike shops say sales have gone up significantly over the last few months.
Whether it's concern over taking public transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic or just needing something to do when activities closed, James Gonyer, one of the owners of Broomwagon Coffee + Bikes, says more and more people have been interested in biking lately. He says that's been good for business.
"If you're looking at service, retail, component sales, everything is over two times our two year average,” said Gonyer.
Other bike shops, like Pedal Power, are seeing the same spike. While things are starting to reopen across the state, Gonyer expects the interest to continue.
"It would be great if it would,” Gonyer said. “It's unfortunate the circumstances that have brought it about, but I really do hope this brings bicycling to the forefront of people's attention, more so than just recreational, but for actual utility use."
While the interest is good for business, keeping up with demand is another story. Right now, Broomwagon doesn’t have too many bikes in stock ready to sell.
"The bicycle industry was definitely caught on their heels with this one,” said Gonyer. “Around this time normally, you see supply inventory start to dwindle in preparation for the following model year and pretty much everything is dried up."
Broomwagon is working hard though to fulfill back orders and staff members expect new models to come out in the next month or so.
