Following years of falling sales, the Arvada Bike Company has closed.

“Four to five years after I bought the shop, we started to struggle because new big players came into town,” said David Porter, owner of the bike company. “That started to take away from our market share.”

In 1988 the bike shop opened at 6595 Wadsworth Blvd. to provide Arvada’s cycling community with access to the latest technologies in bikes, equipment, and repair services. The store was one of two cycle shops within the city, the other being the Bicycle Shack, located at 16255 W. 64th Ave., and the only one on the east side of town.

“It (the closure) will impact those who frequent the shop and those who live close to it,” said Tim McAndrew, a member of the Arvada Bicycle Advisory Committee. “There was a customer base who was loyal to the Arvada Bike Company.”

According to Porter, the store has been consistently losing around $100,000 annually, and this year was on track to make less than half of the revenue from 2006. He said while relocating to a smaller space was ideal, it became financially unrealistic.

“With no money to relocate and having to pay the property taxes on the building, we decided to close,” he said. “After being in this location since 1988 — we soldiered on as best as we could, but we just couldn’t tread water any longer.”

The store closed its doors Sept. 30. The inventory will be liquidated over the coming months. For the community, this loss means traveling to nearby cities for their cycling needs.

“It’s sad for us to lose a bike shop in Arvada,” McAndrew said. “Things aren’t close to home, and from a taxpayer perspective, it was sad because were losing another shop in town.”