NEWARK, DE (BRAIN) Thursday June 7 2012 11:01 AM MT—Wooden Wheels Bike Shop is expanding to a second location in Wilmington, Delaware, about 20 miles northeast of its flagship store in Newark. A late July or early August opening is planned, said Dennis Dischler, who will manage the new store for owner Tom Harvey.
The expansion comes just months after the Cannondale and Specialized dealer relocated its Newark store in November to new digs in a 1940s building with steel beams, brick walls, hardwood floors and 4,000 square feet of retail space. Its basement is getting made over as a studio for spin classes.
Wooden Wheels opened in 1976 as a BMX specialty shop, capitalizing on the boom in racing and, a later, freestyle. The shop also carried skateboards and shoes. In the mid-’80s, the shop additionally positioned itself as an East Coast destination for mountain biking. It continues to sponsor a number of off-road races and events.
Today, Wooden Wheels’ business is fairly evenly split between mountain and road, but mountain could get a bump from the new 3,000-square-foot store, located just across the street from the dirt trails of Brandywine Creek State Park.
While the Newark store has a sleek industrial look, Wooden Wheels is striving for a “greener” feel in Wilmington, Dischler said. “We’re probably going to hire someone to do some airbrushing on the ceiling. We’ll have some fake grass and mulches inside. We want to make it more earthy. It’s going to be pretty cool,” he added.
