A bike shop with close ties to Portland is the latest to announce that it’s closing.
Veloce Bicycles opened in 2003 in Portland and was located on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard until 2017. Original owner Demetri Macrigeanis sold the business to current owner Brent Engstrom in 2011.
Engstrom announced earlier this week on the shop’s Facebook page that the shop will close and their last day will be May 31st. “After 17 Years in the Portland area, Veloce Bicycles is closing,” he said. “We have been very proud to serve our great customers throughout the years. Thank you all! Unfortunately due to various reasons we forced to close.”
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Veloce was known for its high-end road bikes. The shop was a dealer for Orbea, Pinarello, Masi, and others.
Engstrom moved Veloce from Portland to Beaverton in January 2018. In 2017, Engstrom told the Willamette Week that the emergence of two Biketown bike share stations near his shop hurt his business and forced him to leave Portland. The shop is now located at the Progress Ridge shopping center about 13 miles southwest of downtown Portland.
Veloce is the sixth retail bike shop closure we’ve reported on so far this year. Since the start of 2020, we’ve lost Rivelo, Norther Cycles, Revolver, and the brick-and-mortar retail operations of Western Bikeworks (which remains open online) and Universal Cycles (which is open until the end of May and plans to move to Washington County).
Engstrom is having a sale on all inventory. Bikes are 20% off and all accessories and clothing are 30% off. I’ve asked him for a comment about the closure and will update this post if/when I hear back.
CORRECTION, 3:28 pm: Please note that the Universal Cycles retail store on East Burnside remains open through May and then plans to open at a new location in Washington County. The original version of this post made it seem like the shop had already closed. Sorry for the error and the confusion it caused.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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Universal Cycles is relocating to unincorporated Washington County on SW Walker Road near Cedar Hills Blvd and the store is expected to be open by late April.
Universal Cycles barely deals in road bikes at all, let alone high-end brand. (They only sell QBP brands.) They have nothing to do with each other.
“Veloce was known for its high-end road bikes. ”
and
“…the emergence of two Biketown bike share stations near his shop hurt his business and forced him to leave Portland. ”
Does not compute.
“does not compute” yeah, I thought the same thing and then I read the WW article where it said: “Veloce Bicycles on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard counted on a fleet of cruisers for 30 percent of its annual revenue. By December 2016, that revenue was basically gone.”
So, maybe? Probably some other reasons. I lived nearby 2009-2012 and only went in once and my impression was lots of shiny, expensive things, and not much for me.
I miss that shop on Hawthorne. They had a cool collection of used bikes that were treasures. They sold me a bike that fit me properly, and had a fire sale on sidi dominators. I eventually sold that bike, but am hooked on sidis now.
We gotta rally behind our local shops…
Just because something is what your known for, that doesn’t mean the same thing is what pays the bills.
For example, the Multnomah Whisky Library is known for its rare whiskeys, but I’d bet $1000 that they make most of their money off run-of-the-mill $10-$15 common whiskys that you can find anywhere.
Demetri is a super cool guy.
Among many virtues, he possessed one of the REALLY BIG Campy corkscrews.
CORRECTION, 3:28 pm: Please note that the Universal Cycles retail store on East Burnside remains open through May and then plans to open at a new location in Washington County. The original version of this post made it seem like the shop had already closed. Sorry for the error and the confusion it caused.
Transportation cyclists were not this shop’s market, and in the vicinity of the Hawthorne store, we are the majority. I wasn’t at all surprised when he moved, and Beaverton was probably a better market for high-end road bikes, but yes, this is another small-shop loss.
Absolutely zero facts to support your claim, ZERO. I live in this neighborhood and so do many of the people that I ride “fancy road bikes” with. BTW, you cannot support a business if you do not spend money. Patch kits won’t pay the rent.
The closing of all these bike stores just before the coronapocolypse reminds me of one of those movies where the sheriff and white hat gunslingers all leave town before the gang of bandits comes to ravage the townspeople.
I agree, but like in the wild west of Hollywood, it’s often the indifference of the townspeople themselves that contributes most to the bad things happening. Back in the golden age, we all (seemed) to buy locally (even as we secretly did mail order from Nashbar, Supergo, Jenson, & Perf). Now we deal openly with Amazon, Wiggle, Bike24, REI and other international e-commerce gangsters. And we have only ourselves to blame for the changes.
Depressed oil prices will mean more happy motoring.
Yes, for a short time until all the tight oil companies go bankrupt (happening quickly right now) and then our domestic oil output will drop to 6 million barrels a day( us conventional oil production) compared to an average use of over 18 million barrels per day. Then time is up for happy motoring.
We’ve been hearing that song for decades.
Unless they lose their jobs due to recession. Plunge in oil markets usually are a sign of things to come.
Bummer. Trivia: Demetri had donated a folding bike for the raffle of one of the early Bike-In Movie at Hawthorne Hostel events.
I have the same chain lube….my local bike shop cries about it every time. Your chain is too messy! But I love a quiet drive train that needs minimal lubing in all weather.
Bought a Willier from Demetri many years ago, I ran in to him and his wife in Vermont at a seminar. They are both first class people. Does anyone know how he’s doing?