River City Bicycles is closing shop after more than 25 years in business

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River City Bicycles is closing shop2nd longtime Chattanooga area specialty bike retailer to shut down recently

After more than 25 years, River City Bicycles is putting the brakes on the business.

"The main reason... is the purchasing habits of today's consumers are changing to more online shopping," said owner Ronald Driver, adding that fewer people are visiting bike shops.

Driver's Chattanooga store is slated to close on Feb. 28 for the last time. His Brainerd Road site will be the second longtime bike shop to shut down in the area in the past couple of months after Bear Creek Bicycle Co. in Dalton, Ga., shuttered at the end of 2016.

Driver said a sales representative told him that 16 bike shops have closed in his Tennessee-Georgia-North Carolina region in the past 18 months.

"More people are buying new bikes they've never touched, seen or ridden," he said about Internet purchasing. "They don't know if it will fit them, but they're buying it."

According to the National Bicycle Dealers Association, the number of specialty bike retail locations in the U.S. has dropped nearly 40 percent over the last decade and a half, plunging from 6,259 in 2001 to 3,790 in 2015.

"Fierce competition and tight profit margins continue to be challenges for bicycle retailers," said an industry overview by the association.

Specialty retailers sold about 3 million bicycles in 2014, the latest figure available, which the association called a historically healthy number.

"This leads to a conclusion that the stores are becoming larger on average, with similar sales volume through fewer stores," the association said.

But, it said, given the importance of physical bike shops to cyclists, the drop in stores is troubling.

"Without healthy and vibrant local sources for bike products, service and repair, growth in cycling participation will be difficult to achieve," said the trade group.

Shandra Loveless of Outdoor Chattanooga, a city agency that touts the area's outdoor recreational opportunities, said the closing of local retail bike shops doesn't reflect on the Scenic City.

"For us, we encourage people to go to local bike shops," she said. "They're your best asset."

Driver, whose shop was on Tremont Street on the North Shore for many years before moving to Brainerd Village, recalled that two decades ago people would come into the shop all day long and it was busy as customers bought bikes and parts.

"I've noticed a drastic but steady decline in the number of customers coming in for... day-to-day items - tubes, tires, brake pads," he said. "Now most people are purchasing online."

Driver, who bought the business about nine years ago, said a lot of bike components are coming in from foreign countries. Many U.S. companies don't like it but "their hands are tied," he said.

"It's a very unstable industry right now," Driver said. "People like myself are paying for it."

He said retail stores are starting to see competition from some of their bike suppliers, which are selling online.

"We're getting competition from so many different directions it's not fair anymore," Driver said.

Driver, who works at the shop with his wife and one employee, said the specialty bike retailers in the Chattanooga area have a friendly competition and don't wish each other any ill will.

"We try to help each other out at times," he said. "We all play fair. We scratch each others' back. Anything to keep it local."

The business owner said he has a lot of good, core customers. But what's happening in the industry is bigger than the local players, he said.

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.