Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Georgescu and Denis Smith.
Denis has owned bicycle shops in Chicago since 1998. While completing a master’s degree at UIC, he worked as a bicycle messenger. An unfortunate on-the-job, bike crash led him to a brief stint working in an established bicycle store in Logan Square – he ended up purchasing that shop from it’s retiring owner. In 2016, Denis connected with his close college friend and current partner, Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s background in design and marketing works complimentary with Denis’ years of knowledge and expertise in the bike industry.
The first thing the two did was rebranded the downtown shop, “Chicago Bicycle Company”. In Spring of 2017, CBC launched a new location in Chicago’s up and coming North Center neighborhood. Both shops, the Northside’s CBC North and CBC South, nestled into the South Loops trendy Printers Row district, are located on major bike routes. The downtown shop is at 728. S. Dearborn and it’s North Center shop is at 3914. N. Lincoln Ave.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s awesome building to create your own brand within a larger market, but our team is small and we have to wear a lot of hats. We are enjoying our “off-season” so we can take advantage of a little bit of downtime to work on current everyday duties but to focus on new things and get them launched.
Chicago Bicycle Company – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Chicago Bicycle Company’s Denis Smith is the “Chicago’s Bike Guy”. He brings over 25 years of invaluable knowledge and expertise in the bicycle industry. CBC’s partners got away from carrying every bike, in every color and size and now stocks Denis’ top picks within each category. Focus models on the road, mountain, hybrids, fixies, cruisers, folding and kids bikes along with every bicycle accessory you can think of is carried in both shops. CBC carries mostly Trek and Electra bicycles which gives the shop the advantage of being able to order over 300+ bikes ( and a myriad of accessories) from either brand, arriving the next day in most cases.
Smith is also a certified bicycle fitter and enjoys working one-on-one with customers helping them find or build their dream bike. Since Chicago Bicycle is a small, ”mom and pop” shop, they can offer a concierge-style shopping experience – clients text them all the time. CBS is fortunate to have two highly-praised mechanics, Jeff Marchese (downtown) and James Oh (Northside) who together bring an over 30+ of bike mechanic experience. Our mechanics are the ones other mechanics call when they need help – we fix your bicycle right the first time and guarantee our work. This past year, Chicago Bicycle began launching its new line of Georgescu designed apparel – and look out for more styles available soon. This year CBC hopes to launch guided bicycle tours and focus on more bicycle “experiences.”
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
We really took pride and happiness in working on our first store together – 3914 N. Lincoln that opened in the Spring of 2017. That store is a perfect combination of both our unique and individual strengths and it’s both beautifully designed and extremely functional bike shop.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3914 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL 60613
728 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60605 - Website: https://www.chicagobicyclecompany.com
- Phone: 773-857-0596
- Email: elizabeth@chicagobicyclecompany.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chicagobicycleco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoBicycle/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/chicago_bicycle
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/ChicagoBicycle/?etslf=4491&eq=chicago%20bicy
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