The shop schedule for the rest of December is as follows:
Sundays – December 10 and 17, shop open noon to 4 PM (closed December 24 and 31)
Tuesdays – December 12, 19, and 26, shop open 5 PM to 8 PM
Thursdays – December 7, 14, 21, and 28, shop open 5 PM to 8 PM
Also on Thursdays – December 7, 14, and 21, beginning bicycle repair and maintenance class, 8 PM to 9:30 PM (No class on December 28)
We have been so busy at the shop that I haven’t had much time for updates. We have broken our record for bicycles given away in a calendar year. Our biggest year was 2015 when we gave away 842! In 2017 we have given away 857 bicycles and the year isn’t quite over yet! We also are closing in on the record for bicycles repaired for give away, as well as have blown away our record for shop income. We increased the number of city partners from 6 to 8, and have processed around 2,000 bicycles! The extended streak of mild fall weather in late November and early December brought with it a whole lot of bicycles to recycle because people had more time to clean out their garages. We have been swimming in tear-downs. We can always use help dismantling bicycles. Just show up whenever we are open and we can give you some bikes to tear down.
This year we are partnering with two neighborhood groups to provide bicycles as Christmas gifts through adopt-a-family programs. We have already fulfilled a number of requests from East Side Christmas and Little Hope for Christmas bicycles. We are currently caught up on our orders, so we can take a few more Christmas requests. Call 651-641-1037 and leave your first and last name, your telephone number, and the height and gender of each recipient. We will call you to come and pick up your order when it is ready. It is really that simple!
We have some big plans for next year! University of Minnesota’s ReUse Center wants to have two of their popular mega-bike sales. The first will be on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, and the second will be the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. This means that we will need to up our production of repairing bicycles for the U, which means we can use plenty of help from mechanics. This effort pays a lot of the bills at the shop, so anyone who helps us provides an important contribution to our success.
A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. We hope to see you soon at the shop.