I dropped my bicycle off yesterday at River Market Cyclery to have the break pads replaced. The service was good, but the feel of the place has been different of late than it was before.
During the winter time the shop closes on Mondays and Tuesdays, since business is generally slow. But before the winter, even, it seems that the people I was used to seeing, the friendly faces, had slowly changed.
I’m not sure if it is due to needing to cut hours and staff as business declines, but my first couple of years going there were made special by certain staff that I knew. Lately, I’m guessing the person I have been seeing in the proprietor — who I’d never seen the first couple of years I frequented the shop. And I wonder if he does have any other employees at the moment.
I still intend to frequent the shop and send them my business, but it may take awhile before I get the same feeling of specialness to the shop that I used to have.
At The Rainbow 