Cruiser King, located at 957 Orange Ave will be closing this month after ten years of business in Coronado.
Advertised as “San Diego’s first stop for Bike Rentals,” Cruiser King has provided bike rental, sales, accessories, and full-service bike repair in San Diego since its first location opened in Mission Beach in 1998. Following many requests from customers for an additional location, owner Dave Parrish set up shop in Coronado in 2008.
“People at the Mission Beach store kept telling me we needed to open up a spot in Coronado too. It took five years to get this location, but we’ve managed to stay here for ten years.”
With an impressive 5/5 rating on TripAdvisor, and over 100 happy Yelp reviews, Cruiser King was applauded for its excellent customer service and reasonable bike rental rates. Tourists from across the states and internationally shared feedback along the lines of:
“Quality bikes at affordable prices. On top of the great product, the staff was very helpful and friendly” – Don P. Yelp 5/14/18
The Cruiser King team had a mutual appreciation for their diverse and far-reaching customer base. According to former employee, Matt Lane, whose sidekick dog “Puggy” was often in the store:
“Great customers came through the door, locals and tourists alike. Meeting people from all over the world was really the best part of the job.”
But keeping prices low for customers ultimately came at too great a cost for the business.
“We just can’t keep up with the rent increases,” says Parrish of the highly-coveted retail sites on Orange Ave, “at this rate, if we stayed open – it would just be to cover the cost of expenses.”
At this stage, Parrish has no plans to reopen another location and is instead focused on clearing out his existing inventory. The shop’s lease is current until October 31st, but Dave hopes to be out before then.
“There are great deals to be had in our closing sale. New and used bikes, accessories, clothing… everything is priced to go”.
Cruiser King is open daily from 10am-6pm.
The business that will take over the space, a shoe store, Sweet Soles, is due to open in February 2019. The Coronado Times will be publishing that story shortly.
