Rolling Orange Bikes Tours (ROBT), the local Dutch bicycle shop-turned-touring company that thrives on international tourism, has been struggling to stay afloat the last six months.
Shelly Mossey, ROBT owner and licensed New York City sightseeing guide, said the Dutch – who make up 100-percent of his customer base and who normally visit New York in the spring and autumn – have not been able to learn more about Red Hook’s Dutch history due to the global coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions.
“This is the fourth disaster I’ve faced in my career,” explained Mossey, who was previously a partner in a bike messenger service company for 25 years before the 2008 financial recession shuttered it. “I survived 9/11, the recession, and Hurricane Sandy. This pandemic is the latest disaster.”
A Devastating Hit
In January 2020, Mossey moved the shop from Gowanus to Carroll Gardens. He purposely chose the new Clinton Street location because of the ample outdoor space there was to stage group tours. Mossey envisioned making this location geared towards older riders, offering comfort bikes, adult upright bikes and recumbent bikes within his fleet. This, he had hoped, would reinvent his shop and would allow the public to be more open to biking for fun and pleasure.
Mossey was excited to celebrate his fifth anniversary as ROBT owner this year, after having served as a ROBT English-speaking tour guide from 2013 to 2015 and then taking over the company from its two Dutch owners thereafter. However, COVID-19 turned everyone’s world upside down by mid-March.
ROBT normally works with two outside agencies that deal exclusively with bookings from the Netherlands. ROBT bookings made through Baja Bikes, for example, usually made up 75% of ROBT’s business. Tourists often make their reservations a year in advance, resulting in ROBT being booked solid at the end of April, the beginning of May and for two weeks in October.
Needless to say, ROBT has closed for the time being and all bookings and tours for the remainder of 2020 have been canceled. However, one silver lining, according to Mossey, is that a few of the same Dutch customers who booked their tours for 2020 have now rebooked for August 2021.
Trying to Make Ends Meet
In an attempt to make ends meet, Mossey tried opening for repairs and rentals to serve local Brooklynites. He mentioned that, had it been a normal year, dozens of rentals would have easily taken place over the weekends. However, due to residents purchasing their own bikes and using Citibikes to get around, those plans didn’t quite pan out.
Mossey then decided to sell this company’s fleet of famous orange Batavus bikes with baskets in the front. Though they were eleven years old, all 25 were purchased at $200 each. ROBT’s fleet of Dutch, VanMoof, Azor, Brooklyn Cruiser and other assorted city-style bikes, ranging in price, are still currently available for purchase.
Mossey also noted that even if he wanted to purchase replacement bikes right now, he couldn’t because he can’t get bikes from distributors and manufacturers until October.
“We have so much time to replace the fleet if we come back for business,” he continued. “Maybe I’ll need 10 bikes for next March and, by the time April rolls around, I’ll need 50 bikes. I’ll figure it out.”
Additionally, ROBT’s 12 tour guides – some of whom, Mossey said, depended on this job for income – became unemployed.
Hoping for the Best
In June, Mossey thought he would have been reopening for business in September or October. Now, he is setting his sights on next spring.
“I hope we’ll be up and running by March 2021, but it doesn’t look like it. I’m getting nervous,” he continued.
“The hotel and tourist industry is not going to come back right away. This industry is all we have and we have no idea when that’s coming back. Every two days, everything changes with the pandemic … it’s very much like a Rubik’s cube. We don’t know what to do.”
It’s clear from his persistence and dedication that he loves his business and cycling in general.
“I’m actually at the age where I can retire, but I really don’t want to. I’m too active to have nothing to do,” Mossey said. “I’m still worried we’ll go out of business, which I really don’t want to happen. If things don’t start looking up, it’s closing curtains for us.”
Mossey said he will continue to sell his bikes and will offer bicycle repairs by appointment only for the remainder of the pandemic. For more information, email [email protected] or call 347-554-4162
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