CEDAR FALLS — A new bicycle shop is filling the void left when a longtime store closed at the end of last year.
Hall Bicycle Co. owner Kyle Moscrip saw an opening for his business in the Cedar Valley market when Europa Cycle & Ski closed Dec. 31.
“We’ve been looking at expanding for quite awhile,” said Moscrip, whose bike shop has been a Cedar Rapids staple for 122 years. The Cedar Valley is “definitely one of the places we’d looked at for awhile.”
Since both Hall and Europa were Trek bicycle retailers, that limited the ability of Moscrip to open a shop here. A certain number of stores are authorized to sell Trek in a region. So, Europa’s departure created an opportunity for him.
“The big thing is Cedar Falls-Waterloo area is just a really great riding community, lot of cyclists,” noted Moscrip, who recently took ownership of Hall Bicycle Co., the fourth generation of his family to run it. “It just kind of made sense for us as a business.”