I visited the store only once in the late seventies to buy (unheard of then) a helmet. Rode the bike back uptown with my new helmet installed and while traversing Central Park was hit head on by a frisbeeist(?). The bike flipped, I went down and broke two ribs but my head was unscathed. Have worn a helmet since.
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Bianca Pratorius Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 7:58 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR] Sal Corso's store
One of the unusual thing about Sal's Stuvessant 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.
Garth _ I'll take the old scene over the modern one anytime Libre in Miami Florida