Bicycle repair shops are seeing an increase in business as more New Jerseyans look for ways to stay active during the quarantine.
The staff at the Peddlers Shop in Deptford say that many people are coming to get their bikes repaired.
“This is the craziest that I’ve ever seen. It’s just insane,” says service manager Dan Lomonaco.
Lomonaco says that the shop has seen a lot of new customers.
“We’re just seeing these really old bikes, and people are spending a decent amount of money to get them fixed up because that’s the only thing that’s left,” he says.
The shop is doing 20-25 repairs a day, hiring more staff to help and turning part of the showroom into an expanded repair shop.
“It’s just been to the point where the repairs are coming in and we’re about two weeks out, which on a normal summer day, I think when we’re scheduled normally, we can get them back in like three or four days,” Lomonaco says.
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Peddlers is also selling a lot more newer bikes to customers – many who say that they just want to get out of their homes.
“Even if you ride with someone and you’re pretty far away from them, you don’t have to be right next to them. I went on a bike ride the other night with one of my friends. We stayed pretty far apart and you can still do it but it just gets your mind off things,” Lomonaco says.
Lomonaco says that the shop quickly sold out of the lower-priced bikes and are now selling more expensive ones.