Clint Cronenberger is preparing to open Cornerstone Cycle, a bike-service store, in the same storefront on Semmes Avenue where he's operated Koki Cyclery for more than a decade.Photo by Jack Jacobs)
After a tumultuous few months both professionally and personally, Clint Kronenberger is pivoting and reinventing his bike shop at the corner of Semmes and Forest Hill streets.
Cornerstone Cycle is scheduled to open in early June in the same storefront at 3416 Semmes Ave., where Cronenberger operated Koki Cyclery for more than a decade.
Cronenberger's plan for Cornerstone is to focus on bike service and repair, rather than selling bikes, which was Koki's focus.
Kronenberger said the shift in business model was in response to a larger trend in bike retailing after Koki closed its stores for several weeks without notice in late 2023 and into January, frustrating customers who couldn't access bikes in-store at the time.
Kronenberger cited industry trends that prompted his decision, saying that selling bikes as a small brick-and-mortar business is no longer viable due to competition from online sellers offering cheaper bikes and a saturated used bike market. Neither of these challenges are new, but Kronenberger said he's felt the pressure of these challenges more acutely in the wake of the pandemic. He believes a focus on service will help the business survive.
“You can order a bike by mail, you can order anything by mail, that's really where our industry is heading. But you can't order a mechanic by mail. In our industry, there's always going to be a need for service,” he told BizSense in an interview at the store last week.
He said bike sales were strong during the pandemic as people looked for ways to avoid crowds and spend time outdoors. More recently, people who took up cycling during the pandemic have been selling their bikes, making it hard to compete with the influx of used bikes.
“These bikes have barely been ridden. They're brand new. Unless you're someone who's really embraced cycling as a part of their life, you weren't riding bikes before you bought these bikes in your 30s or 40s, and you're not going to continue riding bikes after you've gone back to bowling and doing all the other things you want to do,” Kronenberger said.
Kronenberger said once his inventory is sold, the store will no longer carry bicycles at all, but will continue to sell bicycle parts and accessories.
Cornerstone also plans to introduce bike repair clinics to the space, where people can pay for a session to learn about different aspects of how to maintain their bikes. Classes will start at $39.
Kronenberger estimates he's spent about $10,000 renovating and preparing the business for the turnaround. Part of the store's sales floor has been converted into a seating area to serve beverages for customers waiting for their fix. Another area, which is separate from the medical space and sales floor, will be converted entirely into instruction space once the inventory is depleted.
“It was a really difficult time.”
Coqui Cyclery, 3416 Semmes Ave., temporarily closed last winter without notice.
The restructuring of the business comes after Koki abruptly ceased operations in December last year, closing its doors without notifying customers who had bikes waiting to be picked up or being repaired in the store.
During its closure, Koki posted only once on Facebook in January to assure customers that bikes were safe and that it planned to reopen soon, but at the time, no adequate public explanation was given for why the store was closing.
In an interview last week, Cronenberger said he struggled to balance business and personal life challenges while weathering a divorce and the deaths of people close to him.
“I'd experienced a big loss in my life that wasn't resolved in this state. My divorce restructured a lot of things and that took a toll on me,” he said. “I'd been gone for three weeks and people were starting to wonder. I didn't think about that. I was thinking about what was happening to me.”
He expressed regret over the sudden store closures during the holiday season and the lack of communication, and said he was reaching out to customers to try to resolve the situation.
“I'm trying to rebuild some of the trust with my community that was lost over the holiday turmoil,” Kronenberger said. “It's been a really tough time and I'm trying to move past it all now. I've reached out to just about everyone I feel was offended and I've tried to make amends, and it's going very well.”
Koki reopened briefly in January, but closed again later that month to pivot and begin the associated renovations. Kronenberger said the change in business model was something he'd been thinking about since early 2023.
Cronenberger has also been dealing with some legal troubles in recent months.
Giant Bicycle sued Cronenberger in November for $144,000 in unpaid product charges. In early May, a judge in that case ordered Cronenberger to pay the bike maker for the products and other fees. Cronenberger said he hopes to negotiate a lower final payment and is in contact with Giant's legal counsel about the matter. A lawsuit filed by a customer against Koki in late December was dismissed.
On the personal front, Cronenberger said his divorce was finalized and that he lost ownership of the Semmes Street property as part of that process. Earlier this month, a judge dismissed assault and battery charges filed in 2021 by Cronenberger's ex-wife.
Cronenberger opened Koki in 2012 with Ann Toler, who passed away shortly after the restaurant opened. As he looks ahead to the restaurant's next chapter, Cronenberger is confident in Cornerstone's chances of success.
“The elements that made my last business will make this one. The elements haven't changed: the people who are there, the people behind it,” he said. “I feel like putting that much effort into something that I'm passionate about every day has evolved into something that I can actually make a living at and do pretty well. For me, that's what I want to do again.”
