By LEAH WEATHERSBY

A business that has been a fixture in the Wedgwood neighborhood for more than 19 years, Wedgwood Cycle, located at 8507 35th Ave. NE, closed its doors on Feb. 28.

The storeıs remaining merchandise has been moved to owner John McCaddenıs other shop, Bicycle Outfitters in Kirkland.

McCadden said he regrets having to close Wedgwood Cycle, even though, by his account, the store is leaving him hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and teetering close to bankruptcy.

³One reason I bought the store was to keep it open,² said McCadden, who took over Wedgwood Cycle two years ago.

Wedgwood Cycle was around for approximately 19 years at two different locations in Wedgwood. Mcadden was the shopıs third owner.

McCadden said when he heard the shopıs second owner, Doug Stuart, was getting ready to sell, he called his wife, Marte, a long-time patron of Wedgwood Cycle, and asked her what bike store sheıd most like to own in Seattle. Her answer was: ³Wedgwood Cycle.²

McCadden said another reason he decided to buy Wedgwood Cycle was because of its good reputation for catering to under-served female riders. McCadden said the store managed to do this by carrying a line of bikes made for people under 5 feet 5 inches in height as well as by carrying womenıs clothing and handle bars. His wife, Marte, used to come up from Federal Way to shop there.

McCadden said Wedgwood Cycle also enjoyed a good reputation within the industry, attracting some of the best-qualified employees in an often small labor pool. Ironically, this worked against him in some ways when he tried to bring new products in to the store to cater more to the surrounding area, as he says Bicycle Outfitters does.

McCadden said most of his bicycle aficionado employees were attracted to Wedgwood Cycle because of its reputation for selling high-end products and werenıt interested in working with the kidıs, BMX and mountain bikes which tend to appeal more to local customers.

³I needed to be in two places at once,² McCadden said.

McFadden said meeting the expenses of running the store was hard from day one. When he purchased the store, McFadden said he had to renegotiate the rent on the building which went up 50 percent. He cut his own salary, taking only $15,000 per year, but it still wasnıt enough.

McCadden has been in the bicycle business for about 12 years, ever since he started working as a salesperson at Bicycle Outfitters while he was earning a two-year degree from Edmonds Community College in computer information systems. After receiving the degree, he decided the life of a dot-commer really wasnıt for him.

³I could have had stock options, but this is a lot more fun,² McCadden said.

Mcadden learned both the bicycle sales and repair parts of the business and ended up buying Bicycle Outfitters five years ago.

Unlike Wedgwood Cycle, Bicycle Outfitters has been more focused towards neighborhood customers. Now McCadden says he is moving as much stock as possible from the Wedgwood Cycle to Kirkland, hoping make Bicycle Outfitters both a community store and a destination store for serious bikers.

Fellow local business owner Rob Paulson of Wedgwood Ale House said that Wedgwood Cycle would be missed. ³That shop was nationally known as a retailer of top flight bicycles,² Paulson said. ³Itıs a shame to lose such a long time business.²

McCadden says most of the employees at Wedgwood Cycle have already found other jobs, although store manager Rick Olsen has hopes to open his own specialty bike shop.

McCadden also points out that itıs difficult to make money on a bike shop these days unless itıs part of large chain. He believes this was another reason for Wedgwood Cycleıs demise.

As of press time, it is still uncertain what business will take over the shop space vacated by Wedgwood Cycle.