I took my hybrid bike for the short ride to the grocery store today. The store isn’t very bike-friendly, there are no racks, and very few places to safely lock a bike.
Today, a good portion of the front of the store had Christmas trees for sale, blocking the places I normally lock my bike.
So, I decided to take the bike in the store, and use it as a grocery cart – a grocery cart with brakes. I didn’t ride in the store, just walked along, putting items in my grocery panniers.
I did get quite a few strange looks, but nobody said anything until I was nearly done with my shopping. An employee approached me and let me know that I couldn’t bring my bike in next time. She did say I could park it in the entrance. I did bring up the lack of a bike rack. She was nice about it, so I didn’t give her a hard time.
This was my first time bringing my bike into a retail store (other than bike shops), and I knew this was a possibility. It could have been worse. Security could have made me leave immediately.
Good on you for not being a jerk about the lack of bike racks, also. One of the local stores I patronize has yet to install bike racks–something about they don’t want to clutter the facade of their store, perhaps, or maybe I simply haven’t yet talked to the right person.
I do my best to not be a jerk… but I’m still learning 🙂
I think the biggest problem with getting bike racks installed is how little use they will get. Utility cyclists are such a small percentage of their customers. Nobody wants to bother for such a small group.
If the rack isn’t there, it won’t be used, and people will be reluctant to shop there by bike. How do they know it won’t be popular?
On the other hand, if the rack is there, it is more likely to be used. Not having the rack there tells me that the store does not want my business. I’m happy to politely inform them of this feeling. For a hundred bucks or so, they get to show they are encouraging green transit.
Most of those shopping cart return racks they put in the parking lot could work as a bike rack on the back side with very little modification.
Finding the right person to talk to is half the battle.
I know a lot of people that ride really ditch the cable locks, but I think this is where they are pretty handy. Most people don’t ride a round with bolt cutters looking for bikes to steal, you just need to slow down the joy riding teenagers…
On a side note, if I was a theif looking to take a bike, a bike rack is where I would look, and come prepared, no rack might mean safer?