After what will be three semesters of relocation, Jeffrey Holliday and the other Bike Shop employees are looking forward to having a place to call home.
The University Recreation and Wellness Bike Shop has moved to a temporary location in Cole Field House while the facility is undergoing the first phase of renovation. This new location, 1101 Cole Field House, is smaller, but the transition has been relatively smooth, said Holliday, RecWell adventure programs coordinator.
This shop is a free service available to the university community. Student employees work with customers to teach them how to fix and maintain their bikes.
The Bike Shop has found a home in the back Cole Field House for several years, Holliday said.
However, following the Cole Field House renovation announcement in November 2014, RecWell has been working with Facilities Management since last spring to locate new spaces for services like the Bike Shop.
One of the biggest challenges for the Bike Shop is letting customers know about the temporary location, Holliday said.
“There’s definitely a lot of people that are lost,” said Simon Milburn, a senior computer science major and Bike Shop employee. “Half of the people that come in are like, ‘Oh, we went to the back and we didn’t know that you’re in front.'”
Holliday said that publicizing the Bike Shop has been difficult because the location is only temporary.
“The catch-22 is that we don’t want to publicize this location too much because we’re only here for a short period of time, so we publicize it enough so that the people who are looking for us know where to go,” he said. “Probably when the weather warms up we’ll do a marketing campaign to better publicize a transition.”
Holliday said the shop and crew will have to overcome some challenges of transitioning to a smaller, temporary location.
“The hardest thing was reconciling the two spaces, because this space is very different than our other space,” he said. “It’s smaller, it’s set up with this big office in here. [There’s] a lot less storage space, and so the space is kind of cramped. Coming in, it’s hard to get around, especially if all the stands are full with bikes.”
Employee John Kastner, a freshman computer science major, agreed. He said, “The space downstairs was significantly bigger than this.”
Despite the inconveniences of a temporary location, Holliday said the new Bike Shop “is going to be really cool.”
“It’s going to have access from the top of Union Lane Garage right across from Stamp. We’re going to have four benches, and it’s being renovated specifically for our use, so it’s going to be brightly colored and really fun and friendly.”
While the new space is projected to be finished in April, the Bike Shop will remain in the temporary location until the end of the semester. Holliday said it will be easier to move out when the service is closed between the end of the spring semester and the beginning of the first summer session.
The Bike Shop has been using social media to let students know about the new space. It will remain in 1101 Cole Field House until the permanent location is renovated.
“If people are looking for us, they’re usually looking for us because there’s a problem with their bike, so they’re pretty persistent about finding where we are because our services are free,” Holliday said.
