On Monday, April 7, Hakan Pesman and his wife Nuray hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony at their new store in the Acton Woods Plaza. Several state and town officials attended to celebrate the Acton Bike Shop, which opened in January.
Hakan was in the fashion trade in New York City for thirty years as a technical designer. The arrival of Covid decimated the industry and Hakan, rather than wait for it to recover, moved to Massachusetts, his wife’s home state. He began a new career as a bicycle technician and later store manager at his brother-in-law’s bike dealership in Arlington.
Hakan had started riding as a young boy and enjoyed the experience of repairing his own bike. He continued to ride and repair his bikes into his adult life. After moving to Massachusetts, he became familiar with some of the rail trails in the area, including the Bruce Freeman where he rode from Acton through Westford into North Chelmsford. Having worked for his brother-in-law for four years, he started to think about owning his own shop and he scouted for possible locations.
Acton Woods Plaza had a vacancy, the former home of the Happy Chocolatier. Hakan liked the location in an active, fully occupied mall with a large parking lot in an area with many bike riders. The space had been vacant for several years and, after securing a favorable lease, Hakan signed up and began outfitting the store.
In the few months he has been open, sales have increased and he has consistently met his promise to complete repairs within twenty-four hours. With much of his stock and parts coming from Taiwan and China, Hakan has some concern about how his shop will fare in the coming months (with increased import tariffs). He is confident that he will be able to ride it out and be successful even if it might take a while for consumers to adjust to potentially higher prices.
In the winter months when bike activity is slow, Hakan waxes snow skis, both downhill and cross country.
340 Great Road. Acton Woods Plaza. 978-860-2060. actoncycles.com
Jeff Brown is the business beat reporter for the Acton Exchange.