jay graves

Jay Graves retires, sells Bike Gallery chain

Jay Graves, the former — yes former — owner
and president of Bike Gallery, as seen yesterday.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Jay Graves announced his retirement as owner and operator of the six-store Bike Gallery chain this morning.

Graves has passed on management duties to longtime Bike Gallery employee Kelly Aicher. Aicher now has an ownership stake in the company and he’ll also be the general manager of the six stores. Bike Gallery has been acquired by Mike Olson of San Diego, California-based Trek Bicycle Superstore, which is the number one Trek retailer in America.

This marks the end of an era for bicycling in Portland.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

The mountain of bad economic news in this country seems to get steeper with each passing day. But amid the slowdown, there are some signs that bike-related industries are still rolling along with ease, at least for now.

Signs from the local, national and global bike industry indicators are mixed. In this story, we take a look at some of those signs and ask several industry players how things are going.

Bike Europe, a trade magazine that covers the bike business on the other side of the pond, reported last week on Taiwan’s export numbers. Overall, their exports are down 5.5 percent over last year, but bicycles are one of only two “industry sectors” that are up (the other is pharmaceuticals).

Jay Graves retires, sells Bike Gallery chain

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