Garth,
Your 1972 recollection sounds like the 1st Ave/11th Street iteration of the shop, while the 1979 recollection sounds like the 13th Street/5th Ave. iteration.
I really preferred the older, 1st Ave. version, since it was really just a room full of Atala bicycles with a counter and a mechanic's station at the far end. In the next iteration, the bicycles actually seemed a bit lost within a big cement block cavern.
Plus, the 1st Avenue shop was just two blocks from the Psychadelicatessen, so you could buy groovy love-beads to wear while touring upstate in the Hudson Valley.
Peace and love
Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia (USA)
> One of the unusual thing about Sal's Stuyesant bike store
> was the
> unusual amount of counter space vs. the tiny amount of
> displays. If I
> remember the 1979 version, customers were herded into a
> large
> floorspace in the middle of the room where very little eye
> candy could
> be seen. Even ordinary items like brake blocks, chains or
> tape were out
> of reach. Counter surrounded the customers on 3 and a half
> sides and
> shop employees stood behind the counters retrieving items
> for sale
> depending on what you asked them for. There was interior
> storage space
> out of sight where employees would disappear into to find
> these items.
> The whole scene was designed to allow the maximum numbers
> of customers
> while eliminating theft as much as possible. I must admit
> to having no
> view of the interior of the store during my 1971 and a 1972
> visits. On
> these two occasions customers were being served outside the
> store on
> the sidewalk. There was no room to bring your bike into the
> store and
> instead bikers waited on line outside and employees dealt
> with the
> money and the requests on the street. One 1972 visit called
> upon me to
> wait outside for a half hour before my friend got his order
> completed.
> The scene was one of "We'll get to you as soon as we can
> ... meanwhile
> you can suck up the beautiful rarified biking atmosphere".
> This
> shortage of interior space vs. number of customers was all
> the result
> of the amazing bike boom combined with New York's high
> premium on
> rental square footage. Nowadays, in my home in Florida, you
> can
> virtually run around in the huge floorplans of the major
> stores without
> bumping into more than one or two customers. The stores are
> big, the
> opportunity for theft is great and the customers are in
> short supply
> relative to the financial outlay of the shop owners.