By Christine Graf
Cousins Paul and Dan Fronhofer, owners of Grey Ghost Bicycles, hope to relocate their Glens Falls bike shop to Lawrence Street by early June.
The shop, currently located in a leased space on Glen Street, will be moved to the former Post Star advertising office building. The men purchased the two-story, 10,000-square-foot building from Elizabeth Miller, owner of Miller Mechanical, in February.
The Fronhofers, avid cyclists, opened Grey Ghost Bicycles six years ago as an investment. They can often be found at the shop on weekends, but both men have other day jobs.
Paul owns Fronhofer Tool, a Washington County machine and fabrication shop. Dan is the owner BDP Industries, a design and manufacturing business located in Greenwich.
According to Paul, parking will be much easier for customers once the shop relocates.
“Parking is hard downtown, and we get a lot of customers who travel to us from Albany and below and Plattsburgh and above,” he said.
He said it is the custom fittings offered by Grey Ghost that entice customers to travel such long distances to the store.
“Most shops advertise that they do fittings, but most shops don’t do professional fittings. We actually have a piece of equipment that is 100 percent adjustable while you ride it. We fit people to what their ideal riding position would be, and we see what bikes we have available to fit the rider. We aren’t trying to fit bikes to people. We take the rider, find their ideal position, and then find a bike that will work for them.”
When deciding where to move their bike shop, Paul said there was no question it would remain in Glens Falls.
“The big thing for Dan and I is that we are looking to invest in the community and specifically that side of the community. We see Glens Falls crowding out from Glen Street outward, and we hope to continue down Warren Street and over in that direction of town. We want to be a part of that. The bike shop is community-based and we believe in that philosophy through and through.”
Grey Ghost will take up just one quarter of the building’s available space. The additional space will be leased to tenants.
“Ideally, there will be four businesses because the building is broken up into four quadrants. What we are trying to do is attract businesses that will pair nicely with the bike shop,” said Paul. “We would love to get a coffee shop. We are right across from the T-Shirt Factory, and there’s no place to eat over on that side of town. When we get back from morning group rides, a coffee shop would be ideal.”
A spin studio has already leased space in the building’s basement which contains shower facilities. The studio will open in mid-summer.
The former Post Star building is in good condition and has been well maintained. Paul estimated renovations will cost “multi-hundreds of thousands.”