The Hub Bike Co-op closing flagship in south Minneapolis after 21 years

A Minneapolis neighborhood and the avid Twin Cities biking community are losing a known location for bike sales and repairs as the owners of the Hub Bike Co-op, a bicycle cooperative, announced Friday they are closing their flagship store on Minnehaha Avenue after 21 years there.

The cooperative voted to close the location last week, co-owner David Lee said. Inflation, decreased sales and an overall lag in people needing repairs factored into the decision, he said.

"Despite job numbers being good, everybody's a little [reluctant] to spend money," Lee said.

The closure marks the co-op's second shuttering in three years. In August 2020, the owners closed their shop on Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis' West Bank neighborhood that was located next door to outdoor retailer Midwest Mountaineering, which also announced its closing after 53 years this week.

The Minnehaha bike shop will officially close Sept. 30, and operations will move into the bicycle retailer's University of Minnesota bike center location at 401 SE. Oak St., which is about an eighth of the size of the Minnehaha site, Lee said.

A liquidation sale at the Minnehaha store began Friday, with new and used items discounted as much as 50%, Lee said.

Comments on the shop's Facebook page post pertaining to the closure announcement express sorrow, but also gratitude.

"Independent bike shops as a whole, especially that size and reach, are not as common, but the bigger thing is, we have a lot of outreach in the queer community and the BIPOC, not-white space," he said. "Given that we have that and uplifting people from marginalized groups, we want to keep it going because that's a need, and that just isn't as prevalent."

The company is asking for donations from the public to help pay its mortgage and other operational costs, but mostly to support staff members as they transition to the Oak Street location, Lee said.

The closure comes after a short-lived boom during the pandemic, when the co-op saw a rise in sales as people looked to cycling as safe and socially distant activity, Lee said. That surge lasted through 2021, but sales have dipped since, a harsh blow for a co-op that has sold tens of thousands of bikes and accessories in the past two decades.

Lately, manufacturers and vendors have expanded their ability to sell directly to consumers online, cutting out local bike shops. While that didn't happen with The Hub's vendors, it's a trend that's impacting neighborhood retailers, Lee said.

Months ago, Lee noticed how distributors were discounting bikes and parts. It was a sign decreased sales would continue.