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Hardware store owner blames bike lanes, not his own lack of business savvy, for falling sales

https://chi.streetsblog.org/2022/03/...-logan-square/

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- In the fall of 2020 Streetsblog Chicago reported on the then newly installed plastic post-“protected” bike lanes on Milwaukee Avenue between California and Western Avenues, in Logan Square. At the presser for the unveiling of the completed bike lanes, some business owners in the area came over to yell complaints about losing parking in front of their storefronts. One of those business owners was the owner of Gillman‘s Ace hardware, Alan Gillman, who was extensively interviewed in a recent Block Club Chicago article claiming that the bike lanes are responsible for the closing of his business.

- Gillman claims that the repurposing of car storage into a curbside bike lane has “ruined” his 75 year old hardware store, Gillman Ace hardware at 2118-2120 N. Milwaukee Ave. He claims that business is down “at least a third” since the lanes were installed in fall 2020, and that he has had to lay off an employee, and may close the business. Unfortunately, there was not much investigative journalism in the article to actually back up the claims that bike lanes are responsible for the decline in business.

- Local alderman Daniel LaSpata is quoted in the article stating “I think there are a lot of factors in the last couple of years that may have impacted the economy in Chicago.” One of the more obvious factors in the past two years is a global pandemic which has forced many businesses to adapt. Some social media comments in response to the story have noted that Gillman’s public political beliefs, the poor organization within the store, and business hours that don’t work for some customers are also factors to consider.

- Gillman claims that due to a lack of convenient car storage, he lost customers. Gillman states that he reached out to the local alderman to help him buy a nearby parking lot but it didn’t work out. La Spata stated that he is trying to figure out a solution. “We’d never want to put anyone in a position to be less than successful.” I would argue that the only one who needs to do any labor to ensure that the business is successful is Gillman. I agreed with one online commentator that Gillman could have had customers pick up their goods in the alley or started a delivery service if customers were truly inconvenienced by the lack of car storage.

- In my opinion, one measure of a business’s ability to profit and survive is adaptiveness. There was no exploration as to whether Gilman tried other methods to attract more business or if he had even received direct complaints mentioning a lack of car storage from customers or potential customers. My issue with the Block Club Chicago article is that there was no investigation as to whether the bike lanes are responsible for the drop in business. Business owners were taken at their word. An owner of a jewelry store claimed that the lack of car storage in front of his business deterred would-be customers. The owner of the jewelry store might be seeing a drop in business because in a global pandemic which negatively and disproportionately impacted black and brown people economically.

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