A Langford bike shop is looking for a new place to call home after being handed a two-month eviction notice.
“It caught us all off guard,” said Rob Barron, co-owner of Re-Buy-Cycle Shop. “Regular customers could tell the day I found out because my attitude just dropped. That level of depression hit hard, but we can’t just give up.”
Barron said the shop has been financially coasting along as of late, seeing a slight increase in bike sales due to more people trying to stay active during COVID-19. But the space they have at their current location is very specific to their needs.
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They have a designated area where they can teach young kids how to ride bikes for the first time, a crowded backyard where they’ve amassed a ton of donated bikes plus a 40-foot storage container which sits beside their building.
That container is a big deal to Barron and his girlfriend, who planned to fill it with refurbished bikes to send to Nansana, a district in the city of Kampala, Uganda for use in underprivileged communities.
The nearly 17,000 sq. ft. space, including the bike shop and the parking lot beside, has been sold by a Victoria commercial real estate company.
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Langford has the land at 1112 Goldstream Ave. and 1109 Donna Ave. under commercial zoning. CBRE Victoria plans to develop a two-storey building with retail at the corner intersection and mostly office space.
CBRE Victoria Senior Vice President Ross Marshall said they’re still looking to fill tenants and construction is planned to begin this summer. Depending on the restrictions of COVID-19, it could be completed within 12 months.
“We were under the impression that we’d at least have until July to figure out a plan, but now we only have less than two months,” Barron said.
They have to be off the premises by June 15 and hope to remain in Langford.
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