On the Layered Loss of a Local Bike Shop in San Francisco
In August, the Wiggle Bicycles — a bike service and repair shop on 518 Waller Street — closed after a decade, further casting a light on how even well-supported local small businesses can sink amid swallowing overhead costs.
By Michael Gaines
My friend Garret Peters closed his bike shop last month. For the past ten years, the Wiggle Bicycles has been an institution — on the actual Wiggle bicycle network in our neighborhood of the Lower Haight of San Francisco.
Peters fell in love with the neighborhood when he was a young boy visiting his uncle, exploring all the nooks and crannies of the environs; he quickly fell enamored with its urban grit and charm. Peters and his family were pulled to the Bay Area in the 1980s — first the uncle, then the rest of his clan.
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