Bike store to open near Penn

A bicycle shop will move into the property that has been empty since Strikes Bowling Lounge vacated it last year.

Keswick Cycle will occupy 4,000 square feet of the 4040 Locust St. property, said David Adelman, President and CEO of Campus Apartments, the company that owns the property.

The store, which will move in to the building in August, “will be unlike any other store in the city because of its size and offerings,” co-owner Brian Hackford said. The store will be a “full-service stop working on all types of bikes,” and will also sell many “big-time” brands, including Raleigh, Schwinn and Electra bicycles, among other brands, Hackford said.

Hackford has been trying to open a branch of the store, which already has two locations in Glenside and Cherry Hill, NJ, for seven years, he said. He said Penn’s campus and West Philadelphia are “underserved markets” in terms of retail options.

Adelman also said that the Penn community will benefit from the shop because many students ride bicycles. In addition, ten years ago one of the owners of Kewswick Cycle had a bicycle store on 40th Street that “did really well.”

Kewsick Cycle won’t be the only new source of bikes on campus this fall. The Penn Environmental Group is working in collaboration with the Undergraduate Assembly to launch a new bike-share system at Penn called PennCycle, which will likely be piloted this coming year, said rising Wharton and Engineering senior and UA president Tyler Ernst.

Ernst said demand for the share program will not be affected by the new store, since there are still students who wish to avoid the cost and security risks of owning their own bicycle.

Rising Wharton sophomore Alex Rattray, who is on the PEG executive board and has been involved in the planning of PennCycle, said he “can’t imagine getting around [Penn] any other way” than on a bicycle, a “fun, safe, healthy and sustainable” means of transportation.

Ernst added that it is “nice to see something opening in a different industry at Penn,” alongside restaurants that opened this year.

“Retail is booming” at Penn despite nationwide economic problems, he added.

Keswick Cycle first opened in Glenside, Pa., in 1933, and was purchased by current co-owner David Kaplan from the original owners in 1998.

The large 4040 Locust St. property has been split up into multiple leases, the first of which will be occupied by Keswick Cycle, Adelman said.

Campus Apartments is currently in discussions with other possible retailers to occupy two to three other leases in the building. Other possible retailers include restaurants, a yoga studio and a hair salon, among other options, Adelman said.

He said he hopes to see the property, which was once occupied by the first Urban Outfitters clothing store in the country, become “a destination” for students.

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