The shop schedule for October is as follows:
Sundays – October 5, 12, 19, and 26 – Open Noon to 4 PM
Tuesdays – October 7, 14, 21, and 28 – Open 7 PM to 9 PM
Thursdays – October 9, 13, 23, and 30 – Open 7 PM to 9 PM
Other date to note – Fridley Recycling Event is Saturday, October 11 between 9 AM and 1 PM. Anyone who wishes to volunteer should contact me by email at [email protected] or by phone at 651-641-1037. We can use a couple of people to help either at Fridley or over at our shop for the other event on that date, which is the Free Bikes 4 Kidz Drop Off. We will be loading a trailer full of kid bikes and can use a couple of folks for this at around 8 AM on Saturday, October 11 at the shop. If there are more bicycles than trailer capacity, the drivers will take them over to the drop site at Bandana Square, empty them, and bring them back to the shop for another load. After they are done, Mr. Michael will bring the truck and trailer up to Fridley. You are encouraged to volunteer for either of these events.
In other shop news, we cleaned out all the garages except for the sale garage. We have added a whole lot of bicycles to the sale garage, and all of them are priced at just $10 each! Most of the frames are $5 each, but there are a few higher end ones that sell for a little more, but still at really low prices. This is the largest selection of bicycles we have ever offered at this price in our sale garage, so if you are in the market for a winter beater, or just a bargain, now is the time to buy. Remember, these bicycles all need repairs, and you buy them as is.
The bicycle give away count is now over 400 for 2014. We have around a dozen bicycles that are finished and waiting for their new owners to come and get them. Our list is open again so anyone wanting to get a gift bicycle can sign up by calling 651-641-1037 and leaving the following information: first and last name, height, style of bicycle preferred, and a reliable telephone number where we can reach you when the bicycle is ready for pickup. We normally don’t match requests for specific colors or brands, but we do try to match the style request for mountain, road, hybrid, or cruiser bicycles. Please note that once we call you to tell you your bicycle is ready, you need to arrange to pick it up within one week of the call.
We are also adopting some new policies concerning repairs. From now on, we will require a down payment of either $20 or 50% (whichever is greater) of the cost of any repair over $30. If you leave your bicycle for repairs, you will be expected to pay the remaining balance and pick up your bicycle within 30 days of our notifying you that your bicycle is ready. All bicycles left for more than 60 days will become the property of Mr. Michael Recycles Bicycles, and the repair deposit is forfeited. We really didn’t want to adopt this policy, but we have had quite a few customers leave bicycles for repair, we fix them and call the customer, but they never pick up the bicycle. We have some out in our garage that have been waiting for over a year for their owners to come back and pay for repairs. We have limited storage space, so we need to ensure that bicycles are picked up on time.
Our volunteers have selected the Ann Bancroft Foundation as our quarter 3 charitable partner. We will be sending a check to ABF for 10% of all income from the months of July, August, and September. Our quarter 1 partner was the ALS Foundation, and for quarter 2 we split the donation 50/50 between Feline Rescue and Colorado Shiba Inu Rescue. Sending out those checks is one of the most rewarding things that I get to do for this business.
Watch this space for news about some additions to our merchandise selection. We hope to have all of it in place by November. Also, keep Saturday, November 29 open for our annual BLITZ! day to benefit the United Way/Pioneer Press Holiday Wishes Program.
We hope to see you soon at the shop.