A leader in the local movement toward electric and cargo bikes, Bicycle Belle, closes this summer. Its founder and owner, Carice Reddien Pingenot, announced the closing on Tuesday.
“It’s hard running a small business, and I’ve been doing it for a long time,” Reddien said in her shop that day, pausing from working with a steady stream of customers. “I just feel like I need to pay attention to some of the other priorities in my life – my family.”
Her work on Tuesday was slowed by needing to break the news of her closing to regulars and offer assurances that they can find other businesses to service their bikes, including Wheelworks in Somerville. Some customers arrived aware of the news, after a letter out the store’s mailing list in the morning warning that Bicycle Belle has stopped scheduling service to focus on selling inventory, and will be be available for limited, emergency service only through the end of June … pack things up in July … and close for good Aug. 1.
The bike business is challenging, and the industry goes up and down, Pingenot said, but the decision to close was not financial – “I don’t think it’s particularly far down right now for us,” she said. And while Trump tariffs have made things complicated for a couple of its brands, the decision to close was made before that impact.
Bicycle Belle opened in 2013 at the flatiron intersection of Beacon and Oxford streets, right on the city line between Cambridge and Somerville. Pingenot isn’t sure how many bikes she sold since, but there are 3,000 customers in the Bicycle Belle customer database.
“I feel like we’ve accomplished more than we could have imagined when I started the shop. Cargo bikes were sort of a fringe of a fringe at that point, and now you can’t go anywhere in Cambridge and Somerville without seeing three. I feel happy about what we’ve accomplished,” Pingenot said.
Bicycle Belle has been the go-to shop and service location for customer John Wolfe and the family Xtracycle bought around 15 years ago – an extralong bike with a seat in back for the kids. “She was one of the few places that was doing electric bikes way back when, and we like shopping locally,” Wolfe said.
There are a lot more places doing electric bikes now, so there’s a lot more choice for him and other customers, said Wolfe, of Somerville. He sees more trips to Wheelworks in his future, but said he will miss Bicycle Belle’s attention to his bike. “We’ve always had it serviced here. It’s been fantastic, and we’re going to really miss her.”
Pingenot said she’s not sure what’s next for either herself or her eccentrically shaped shop, but Bicycle Belle was too busy Tuesday to allow much thought. Store stock is selling at a discount – $1,000 off the Urban Arrow family cargo bikes and 20 percent off accessories, for instance.
“I am going to spend the next nine months getting my household in order, and after that, I’ll have to see,” she said. In her email, she told customers that she will miss them, but knows she will see them in the bike lanes.
Bicycle Belle, 368 Beacon St., Ward 2, Somerville
About The Author
