Old bicycle shops

Art Watson's CCM Store - Yonge St. Toronto

 
Courtesy of Three Speed Mania

Fraser Cycle Co. Vancouver (1937) now that's a sign!

Charlie Lawrence's bicycle shop in Westboro (Ottawa) ON - 1944

Bert & Mac's bicycle and radio store in Lethbridge, Alberta, early 40s 

Gulliver's Cycle & Sports, Hamilton, ON 1947

 A group of 18 youngsters on CCM Joycycles outside the bicycle shop of U. Heroux in Three Rivers, Que. in 1950. The tricycles had been sold to a local amusement park for rental use.

lot of souvenirs !... ;)

Awesome! These are great John!

Thanks Alan. I'm hoping others will add to them. I'm sure there are lots of great photos out there of old bicycle shops.

John

Two different views of Duke's bicycle shop on Queen St. in Toronto

The bicycle shop of E. Grenier, beauharnois, Que. 1940

Here's an 1896 photo of R. & W. Kerr in Montreal displaying Lozier built (i.e. pre-CCM) Clevelands. At the time, Cleveland models sold for $100, with a 5% discount for cash.

Poor picture of Gendron's Montreal retail outlet in 1896 (pre-CCM). At the time, Gendron branded models were selling for $100, while ther Reliance branded models were selling for $85.

Here's a shot of the Mt. Dennis shop on Weston Road, just about 2 km south of the factory. Looks like it has just closed and been sold.

Here is a photo of Russell's Bicycle Works, a CCM dealership in Brockville. No, it's not the big building but that very small structure on the left hand side. It only had about 15 feet of frontage and the showroom was probaly a whole 150 square feet! The owner, Thomas Russell, was a former blacksmith for the CNR who opened the shop circa 1949. He operated it until the mid-1960s when John Prosser acquired the business. Mr, Prosser continued to operate business as a CCM dealership until circa 1976, when the collapse of the ealy 1970's bicycle boom resulted in its closure. The building was demolished shortly afterwards.

The large building is the W. H. Comstock Co. building, which was erected in 1888 to house the head office and Canadian factory for Comstock's patent medicines, the most famous of which were Dr.Morse's Indian Root Pills. The Canadian and USA companies were dissolved in 1960 but an Australian subsidiary continued in operation until circa 1992. The pictured buidling was demolished  shortly after this photo was taken, to avoid property taxes on the emppty building. 

Hi Folks, I'm new to this great forum, thought I'd share some pictures and a bit of my history. My Dad ran the local bike shop ( and motorcyle,and photography business,that's him in the third picture,is it any wonder he looks tired?) from the early thirties until mid 2000's.  He and his twin brother ran the first shop together until 1951.  The billboards were hand painted by my Dad, during the war years they rented bikes to the guys home on leave, and the story my Dad told me with a chuckle is very few paid and Monday mornings were spent fishing the bikes from the pond at the local park.

Here are a few more of my Dad and his twin Wally.

I saw the Mt Dennis bicycle shop photo above and took a photo of the building today as a "before and after".

I have lived in Mt Dennis for 50 years and reconized the house/store right away when I saw the photo.

I use to buy from Stans Cycle in Westside Mall and Star Cycle on Jane Street back in the '70s and '80s.

I also get a lot of my bike parts, slick tires, spray paint, etc to customize CCM bikes into choppers at Canadian Tire

at Jane and Lawrence in the mid '70s so this bike shop on Weston Road must have been there in the '60s as I do not recall it.

A blast from the past for sure.

Great pictures Brian, those sure are great family photos

hi John, saw the pictures of the U. Heroux bicycle shop in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, do you have any more info on the exact location (ie:street)

Here are some photos of George Albert Wenige riding a Red Bird Bicycle and his bicycle shop at 397 Clarence Street, London ON, in 1925 and a photo of the shop there today in 2016, over 90 years later !

George was born in Detroit MI in 1874 and moved to London ON in 1900 as a stunt bicycle rider at the Western Fair.

He liked it so much he ended up staying in London and opened up a bicycle and motor company in 1913. He sold Red Bird Bicycles and Indian Motorcycles. He had the largest dealership around.

He rode his bicycle from London to Nova Scotia to promote his shop and rode bicycle well into his 70s.

George became the Mayor of London 9 Times between 1923 and 1950 ! A record still held to this day. Terms were just a year in those times.

He died in 1952 of a massive heart attack. 3 of his 5 children are still alive.

Sorry, I couldn't get the photo of George on his Red Bird to load in the last post.

I had to change the format for this site.

Here is the photo...

Attached is a picture of R.G. Mcleod's bicycle shop in Toronto. Note the large Massey billboard on the roof. The  front sign mentions Meteor and Falcon bicycles. Meteor was McLeod's house brand. Falcon eventually became a CCM brand but it may possibly have been another McLeod brand at this time. Based on my research, the location is 179-181 King St. W., circa 1920. 

If anybody is interested, I have researched and written a small history of McLeod and have found a couple of advertisements for the business. 

Hey T-Mar:

Great photo! Would love to read more about the McLead operation.

John

Wasaga Beach bicycle rentals. Still looking for location of Simpsons Livery in Wasaga. A billboard display at Beach Area 1 currently shows historical bicycle fun at Wasaga.

Sorry for the duplication. Couldn't get photos attached on the other post regarding Simpsons Livery Blotter.

ISP

Regarding Simpson's Livery, I would start my search at the Wasaga Beach Public Library or Historical Society. Often, they have collections  of old local directories, maps, fire insurance plans and/or newspapers which may contain references to the business. The bicycles illustrated in the postcards are quite detailed and if contemporary would date them 1918-1922, as 1918 was the 1st year for the Motorbike and 1922 was the last year for the pictured version of the Triplex crankset.