Help Charles A. James Bicycle Shop Remain Open

This is hard for me to write, but I'm reaching out to everyone that knows the bicycle shop to help us keep its legacy of the shop alive.

Hi, I'm Hank Estrada, Owner of Charles A. James Bicycle Shop at 319 N Main Ave. The shop is over 102 years old and has been on Main Ave for almost 80 years. Our family has owned the shop for 54 years. My Dad started working for Mr. James as a teenager in 1938. After 30 years of working at the shop, Mr. James passed away, and my Dad was given the right to keep the name of the shop, which he did. Through the years, the shop has faced many difficulties, but somehow, through God's grace, we have managed to keep the shop open.

Now it seems we have more going against us; the shop is dealing with a huge construction happening right across the street. This construction is supposed to last for 24 months. Now the City of San Antonio is doing a sewer line replacement that has impacted more parking slots for our customers. The sewer line is to remain above ground for nine weeks; as of today, this is just the start of the second week, which means the sewer lines will hinder our customers and business for the whole month of July and August.

This has caused a very difficult hardship in keeping the shop open. Due to the construction our customers are finding it a challenge to even park near the shop so they can bring their repairs and buy the parts they need for their bikes. Parking is a major part of keeping our business alive and the construction along witht he City has shut down over 20 parking slots.

This in turn has cut our revenue to almost nothing which makes it impossible to pay rent, payroll, utilities, and all the extra expenses in keeping the shop open.

So I'm asking all my family, friends customers of my Dand and me to help keep the shop open. Please consider donating to our GoFundMe. I just can't give up and close the doors to the Oldest Bicycle Shop in San Antonio and maybe Texas.

Thank you.

Hank Estrada