Big Wheel Bikes has been selling bicycles to Alexandrians or renting them out to visitors traveling the Mount Vernon Trail for 30 years, but its current location at 2 Prince Street could close sometime in the next year.
Store manager Bennett Moore told ALXnow that the shop had gone from a long term lease to a year-to-year lease and that, ultimately, waterfront developer Murray Bonitt wanted to put a restaurant called Waterfront Taco Factory in the space.
“We didn’t know until we saw the permit come up about a month ago,” said Moore.
Moore said the landlord didn’t want to leave Big Wheel Bikes “high and dry” so preliminarily offered an open space around the corner. Moore said the shop is still looking for a new space.
“Hopefully we’ll have at least a year, maybe longer, before that takes effect,” said Moore. “It can be very difficult to find a good space too. It needs to be somewhere central, we’d have to be… well, here.”
Moore said he’s looking at Washington Street and other visible corridors in Old Town, but that spaces affordable to a small business are few and far between — something other local businesses have found as redevelopment forces them to relocate.
A special use permit filed in November said the new Waterfront Taco Factory would be open seven days per week from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.
