Longtime State College bike shop moving out of downtown to new ‘dream space.’ What to know
Within the next three months, longtime State College business Freeze Thaw Cycles plans to move to a new location that its co-owners referred to as a “dream space.”
For 19 years now, the unique rider-owned shop has operated downtown, including 15 years at its current location at 109 S. Allen St. But the shop has grown enough that it requires more room and, after a five-year search, Freeze Thaw Cycles publicly announced Tuesday it found just what it was looking for.
The shop that began in 2005 in a 500-square-foot basement on South Fraser Street is moving 1.2 miles west — out of the downtown — to a complex that boasts a 3,000-square-foot sales and service area. The expectation is to open the new location at 1400 W. College Ave. by January; one co-owner anticipated both shops would be simultaneously open just a few days before the older location officially closes.
“We’ve been on the search for this kind of spot for five years,” said business co-owner/co-founder Justin Wagner, who’s been called the Pennsylvania Bike Wizard. “The pandemic kind of put things on hold. Really, we’re hitting our 20th anniversary in May — and we absolutely aim to do this another 20 years.”
Wagner said the move has nothing to do with its lease or issues with the rent. Instead, he thanked landlord Lou Pacchioni, saying Freeze Thaw never would’ve made it this far without him, and said the move was strictly about space.
The new sales floor will be at least three times larger than the current one, and the business will entirely be on one floor — unlike the current setup, where staff need to climb steps every day. A large warehouse is also at the new site, one that can store customers’ bikes for repairs, which is important considering Freeze Thaw had to turn away business in the past due to that lack of storage.
There’ll also will be an excess of parking at the new site, a small lounge with coffee and magazines — and enough space to play an even larger role in the cycling community.
“We host group bike rides, but we always have to find other venues to start from,” Wagner added. “With this new space, our parking lot is big enough where we can lead those group rides from the shop itself. Another general idea is we could have some bike swap meets there. Or we could help with the local youth mountain bike team and we could do fundraisers out of our spot.”
Freeze Thaw has carved a niche in Happy Valley. Because it’s rider-owned and operated, those in charge aren’t opposed to selling high-quality gear and equipment that comes from small businesses and isn’t found in corporate cycling shops. Freeze Thaw has also earned a reputation for its own custom handbuilt wheels, in addition to offering repairs and fittings, which draws customers from as far as Philadelphia.
The new location will tentatively keep the same five-day-a-week hours, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. And, Wagner said, it’s possible Freeze Thaw might eventually open for a sixth day a week.
For now, though, Wagner and the business’ three other co-owners are gearing up for a move that should happen within the next few months.
“We’re doing a mild renovation, not a build-out, basically cleaning the place up and painting it and making it clean and tidy,” Wagner said. “Depending on how that goes, our goal is to be fully open by the end of the year. There’s a chance we’ll open before then, but we’re trying not to overpromise.”
