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Alliance bike shop still going strong

The B&B Bike Shop in Alliance remains open and will continue the legacy established by its founder Henry Simmons who died in May. The business remains in the family and has extended hours and still offers full-time bike sales and service. The bike shop is located at 2020 Cherry Ave. (Salem News photo by Larry Shields)

ALLIANCE–The legacy Henry Simmons started at his B&B Bike Shop remains strong and continues as his granddaughter, Tiffany Cartwright, and her husband, Ryan, now own and operate the business.

The bike shop where Simmons sold, repaired bikes and treated people right–right up to his passing May–is now in its 31st year.

Simmons was known all over the area to bike riders for honest sales and the quality service he provided at the shop located at 2030 Cherry Ave.

Ryan Cartwright, who worked part-time for Simmons for the last three years, said, “We kept it open seamlessly.”

He said Simmons wanted to keep the shop in the family.

“He loved his wife, he loved this shop, loved Jesus and took care of people as well as he would like to be treated. He really cared about people,” he said.

Asked about any changes, Ryan Cartwright, who is the manager, said there are new faces but the same philosophy and “in fact, we’ve extended our hours.”

New hours are from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

B&B Bike Shop still sells the Redline, Huffy, Torker, Raleigh and Diamondback bikes along with skateboards and various used bikes.

The front display and counter area used to be tightly jammed full of bikes and accessories and that layout has been changed, Ryan Cartwright said.

But there are still seats, tires, inner tubes, handlebar grips, frames, chains, helmets, reflectors, pedals, locks, sprockets, mirrors and even pepper spray hanging from the walls and under the countertops.

“We still have the same amount, it’s just how you present it. We’ve continued with what we’ve had,” he said, “wall-to-wall accessories, everything you can think of.”

Ryan Cartwright said they’ve been doing well with skateboards and “we plan on getting into the electric assist and doing some type of rentals.”

He added, “We’ve only had it a month, in time we’ll probably have a few more changes.”

Customers travel from Hartville, Atwater, Salem and the surrounding area and have been great.

“If they’re not happy, they’re not going to spend money … if we don’t have it, we’ll get it for you … business has been fantastic, the city’s been great to us. Customers have been awesome, really a blessing,” he said. “We plan on keeping up with customer demands and keeping them happy … it’s basically becoming a part of Alliance history too, 31 years is pretty good.”

B&B Bike Shop accepts Visa and Mastercard. For more information, call 330-823-9284 or visit B&B Bike Shop on Facebook.

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