Category: Shop News

Our December shop schedule is as follows:

Sundays – December 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 – Noon to 4 PM

Tuesdays – December 3, 10, and 17 – 7 PM to 9 PM (closed December 24 and 31 so we can enjoy Christmas and New Year’s Eve with family)

Thursdays – December 5, 12, 19, and 26 – 7 PM to 9 PM

Wow!  The shop has been busy with filling bicycle requests.  This year we have had over 60 requests for Holiday Wishes bicycles.  We are already over halfway done with the repairs, but still have a lot of work ahead of us to get all of them done and in the hands of the recipients.  Our BLITZ! day was incredible – we finished 15 of the Holiday Wishes bicycles in the 6 hour event.  Then our Small Business Sunday promotion brought in some good sales, which were much needed after a very slow November.  In fact, this past November was our lowest month for sales income in two years.  Good thing we had some good months earlier in the year to offset the shortfall.

We have not yet turned on the Christmas music in the shop.  We tend to wait until sometime around 10 days before Christmas.  We don’t want to get sick of it before enjoying our own Christmas festivities.

In other news, we hauled back a huge number of adult bikes that were not needed at Free Bikes 4 Kidz.  Our garages are pretty full.  We will be restocking our sale garage soon with some decent bikes, and we have quite a few road bikes that we plan to fix for sale.  Nothing is what would be considered high-end, but there are some solid Fujis, Schwinns, and Raleighs in the bunch.

As our year draws to a close, I want to again thank our amazing volunteers.  They have stuck with us through thick and thin.  They put in lots of hours not just fixing bikes, but also helped us to remodel the shop.  They show up regularly and keep the place cheerful.  They do pick on each other, but that’s part of what makes MMRB fun.  A special shout-out to Kendra, William, Marie, Tom R, Tom Y, Tom L, Carl, Zach, and Anne.  No one could ask for a better group of volunteers than these folks.  For all of you who have never been to our shop, make 2014 the year you do so, and meet some of these great people.  We will be waiting.

Our November shop schedule is as follows:

Sundays – November 3, 17, and 24 – Noon to 4 PM (closed November 10)

Tuesdays – November 5, 12, and 26 – 7 PM to 9 PM (closed November 19 unless our crew decides to open)

Thursdays – November 7 and 21 – 7 PM to 9 PM (closed November 14 and 28)

Saturday November 30 is BLITZ!!!  That is when we fix bicycles for people in the Holiday Wishes program.  Come join us from 10 AM to around 4 PM, or until we get tired.  Mike’s famous apple pie is on the menu, along with pumpkin pie and other treats.

The bicycle count is now 650.  Our record was set last year at 755, so we would need to give away another 156 bicycles yet this year to beat it.  I’m not sure that we can get that many out the door, but we will try our best.  Right now there are around 25 people on the wait list, but we keep getting some new folks signing up, so we may at least make it to 700.  Our crew recently spent a Friday evening down at Free Bikes 4 Kidz helping to fix some of the 5,000 bicycles that they want to get done for a December give-away.  We plan to do this again soon, check our Facebook page for details.

If you have never been to our shop, what are you waiting for?  The remodel project is 95% complete – we just need to do the display case and finish painting the wall behind the desk – so come in and check out our new look.  It is bigger, brighter, and more fun than ever.

The October shop schedule is as follows:

Sundays – October 6, 13, and 27 – Shop Open Noon to 4 PM (closed October 20 unless the volunteers choose to open for us)

Tuesdays – October 1, 8, 22, and 29 – Shop Open 7 PM to 9 PM (closed October 15)

Thursdays – October 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31 – Shop Open 7 PM to 9 PM (yes, we will be open on Halloween, come in to get your treat)

September has been a busy month for us.  We did two recycling events plus a pickup at Coon Rapids and processed about 150 bicycles!  Remodeling of the main shop space is almost complete.  We still need an electrician (licensed in St. Paul) to run conduit to the ceiling so we can hook up the new lights.  We also still need to fix up the display case and then remove the desk.  I am trying to figure out how I will arrange things in the new checkout area.  We also managed to find time to give away a number of bicycles, as well as have a class for DCEH.  The overall bicycle count is just a few shy of 350 for the year.  It looks like we won’t hit that target of giving away 1000 bicycles in 2013, but we still should end up over 600 by year’s end.  We still have our Free Bikes For Kidz giveaway, Holiday Wishes, plus there are over 40 names on our wait list.  For a little shop, we get a lot done.

Looking ahead to October, we have one recycling event at Fridley, most likely another pickup from Coon Rapids, and the completion of the main shop space remodeling.  We also have scheduled our BLITZ! event for Holiday Wishes on Saturday, November 30.  Here is a chance to help us fix a whole bunch of bicycles in a few hours.  This is one of our most fun events of the year – we serve Mike’s famous home made apple pie, pumpkin pie, and lunch for all the volunteers.  If you have any bicycle mechanic skills, we can use you that day, or, for that matter, any day when our store is open.  All you need to do is stop by and ask if you can fix some bicycles.  We will put you to work.  Even if you are not a mechanic, please come by and say hello when you are in our neighborhood.

We will be open this coming Sunday, September 15 between noon and 4 PM.  We will be closed on Tuesday, September 17.

The September shop schedule is as follows:

Sundays – September 1, 8, 22, and 29 – Shop open noon to 4 PM (Closed September 15, unless the volunteers want to open)

Tuesdays – September 3, 10, and 24 – Shop open 7 PM to 9 PM (Closed September 17, unless the volunteers choose to open it for us)

Thursdays – September 5, 12, 19, and 26 – Shop open 7 PM to 9 PM

August has been busy at the shop.  We sold all but one of the road bicycles we had available.  We also gave away quite a few bicycles, bringing the 2013 total up to 320.  WE hosted another class for Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness.  Facebook “likes” are up to about 740.  The remodel project continues, with plans to complete just about all of the ceiling work by the end of the Labor Day weekend.  We scored a great deal on some track lighting and will be installing it as soon as we finish painting the ceiling.  We are also still accepting bids for the electrical work, and are still looking for a fabulous deal on three ceiling fans with schoolhouse light kits.  We have not yet scheduled the grand re-opening, but it looks like it will be in the latter part of October.  Watch this space for details.

We wish to give a special shout out to Tom R. and Kendra.  Those two have given so much of their time to the remodeling project.  There is no way we could get this done in a timely manner without their help.  Thanks so much from the bottom of our hearts.

The new look is evolving fast, so come and check it out, along with the cool stuff and bicycles we have for sale.  We anticipate getting a bunch more bicycles now that the fall cleanup season is here.  Stop by soon – you never know what you will discover.

Our wait list is now open.  We will take requests until we reach 60 names.  At that point we will close the list.  We used to keep our list open continuously, but it proved nearly impossible to manage.  We have found that this method allows us to fulfill a lot of requests without having to turn a lot of folks away.   Thanks to everyone for understanding.

The August shop schedule is as follows:

Sundays – August 4, 11, and 25 – Shop pen Noon to 4 PM (Shop closed August 18)

Tuesdays – August 6, 13, 20, and 27 – Shop open 7 PM to 9 PM

Thursdays – August 8, 15, 22, and 29 – Shop open 7 PM to 9 PM (Shop closed August 1)

The remodeling project is coming along well.  The ceiling patch and paint job is about 1/3 complete.  The wall painting is about 98% complete (we still need to paint behind the desk). We are doing a little at a time.  Our goal is to have the main portion of the shop completed by the end of the summer. A special thanks to Kendra, Kevin, Tom R, Carol, Chuck, Marie, and Sarah for the many hours of hard labor they put in to get us this far in the project.

The bicycle give-away count is currently at 283.  We have a number of completed bicycles waiting for pickup, so this count should increase rapidly.  We also are getting the wait list caught up.  The wait list will reopen at 9 AM on Monday, August 19.  Our usual crowd of volunteers has done an outstanding job with getting bicycles done.  Sales are also good enough to cover expenses, so we are at our break-even goal for the year.  Overall, we are having a successful year.

Looking ahead, we have a couple of recycling events scheduled for September, along with our annual participation in the St. Paul Classic Bicycle Tour.  We will again have an information table at the start of the ride, so if you are going be sure to stop by and say hello.   We also will have a grand reopening event, but won’t know exactly when until we know when the remodeling job will be done.  Of course, you will be able to get all the details right here once we announce them.

If you have never been to our store, we hope you will set aside some time to pay us a visit.  If it has been awhile since your last visit, stop by to see the evolving new look.  It is brighter and more colorful than ever, and stuff is organized better to make shopping easier for you.  Stop by to see us, we look forward to it.

July Shop Schedule is as follows:

Sundays:  July 14, 21, and 28 – Noon to 4 PM  (Shop closed on July 7)

Tuesdays: July 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30 – Shop open 7 PM to 9 PM

Thursdays: July 11, 18, and 25 – Shop open 7 PM to 9 PM (Shop closed July 4)

We are in the middle of our great remodeling adventure.  The drop ceiling is gone, the parts have been relocated, new repair stations have been added, and the contents of the sale bike and wheel garages have been combined into one larger sale garage.  We have also relocated large items (baskets, fenders, handlebars, etc.) to this garage.  We also have some of the walls painted in the new shop colors.  On Friday, July 5 and Saturday, July 6, we will be working long hours to patch and paint the ceiling.  Time permitting, we will install shelving in the bathroom, paint walls in our food service area, and fix up the used display case which will eventually replace the front desk.  If you like this sort of work, you are welcome to come to the shop and volunteer your talents.  We provide food and drink.

We have conducted two classes for Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness, and they also conducted a bike drive to replace their dwindling stock.  Our bicycle giveaway count for 2013 is up to 192.  We just passed the 700 mark in “likes” for our Facebook page.  Sales have kept pace with expenses.  We also will have a coupon in the Reuse Coupon Book that will come out this fall.  In short, this year is shaping up to be a success.

We always want to acknowledge our wonderful volunteers.  Without them, we could not accomplish much.  A special shoutout to Kendra, Tom R., Marie, Tom Y., Bill, Anne, Tom L., and Scott.  Next time you are in the neighborhood, stop by our shop and meet some of these great people.  You will come away inspired.

The June shop schedule is as follows:

Sundays – June 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30 – Noon to 4 PM

Tuesdays – June 4, 11, 18, and 25 – 7 PM to 9 PM

Thursdays – June 6, 13, 20, and 27 – 7 PM to 9 PM

We are currently remodeling the shop.  We removed the drop ceiling and there is 42″ more space above where the old ceiling was.  We will be cleaning it up and repainting it.  Also, we plan to install some nice old-fashioned style lighting and ceiling fans.  We also tore out the two closets to free up more floor space, and have rearranged the work stations.  We now have 5 dedicated work stations, and a separate area to true wheels.  Stop by and see our evolving new look.

We have held one class so far for Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness, and they will have a bicycle drive on June 22.  Normally we get a few really nice bicycles from this event that we sell on consignment for DCEH.  If you are in the market for a bicycle, you may wish to stop in around June 25 to check out the newest offerings.

Our give-away total is up to 177 for 2013.  We are slightly ahead of one bicycle a day, but have a long way to go in order to give away 1000 this year.  We are making progress on our Facebook “likes” and that total is up to 684.  The goal is 1000 “likes” for our Facebook page by the end of 2013.

We have rearranged the sales garages and combined the bicycles and wheels into one larger space.  Also, we will be moving large items (baskets, fenders, banana seats, kickstands, etc.) out to the sales garage area.  This will make shopping much easier for our customers.  We also pared down the $42 bicycles to make room for more.  We should get some around the middle of the month.

I want to take time to give our volunteers a shout-out.  Huge thanks to Tom R, Bill W, Kendra M, Marie J, Anne C, Tom Y, and Scott N.  Mr. Michael and I appreciate your dedication to working at our store, and all the help you have given us with the remodeling.  We can’t do this without you.

We have reached our capacity on our waiting list, so it is closed for now and we are not taking any more bicycle requests.  The list will reopen on Monday, August 19, 2013 at 9:00 AM.  If you want to get on our list, please call back after that time.  Thanks.