He says he just got in a bunch of pallets in that he ordered 6 months ago. Jerry Markee of Markee's Cycling Center in Kennewick has only been able to keep up with demand because he ordered bikes several months ago. Major disruptions in the supply chain have led to an industry wide shortage. The pandemic has not only increased demand for over a year but has also slowed production. KENNEWICK, Wash.- If you’re in the market for a bike, you'll probably want to roll over to get one now. 'You can only go so long without inventory and so unfortunately there is going to be a patrician in the bike business because you can only run a business for so long if you can't buy products and it's not just our industry it's many industries,' Markee said. 'They are not projecting the bike business to be back to normal until mid-next summer assuming with the pandemic we don't have more outbreaks, I mean there is a lot of variables out there, our economy I mean who knows,' Markee said.Įven as things start to get back to normal he warns 'bike sales' may not for a while. Markee calls himself lucky but knows his inventory could run short. Thanks to his early planning, his shop now has more in stock than most other shops in the state. Everything dealers are being fed right now is existing back orders,' Markee said. 'If it's bicycles, repair parts, almost every category is zero. 'What happened when the pandemic hit, if you didn't get on the phone and do a lot of major purchasing and plan for shortages the ship sailed quick,' Markee said.įor many bike shops around the state, Markee said it's still hard to find items in stock. Markee started to plan ahead buying not only what he needed but what he thought he might need in the future. there wasn't a single bike on the showroom floor in Yakima last summer,' Markee said. Every weekend we had people come from Seattle to buy our bicycles, Spokane, and Yakima. 'In the summer we had people come from California to buy bikes from us. This trend caused 'a bike boom' across the U.S. His business started to pick up with more people staying home and getting into bike riding because of the pandemic. luckily because of transportation, bike shops were named essential business,' Markee said.

'We were not sure if we were going to have to close or be open we didn't know.

Nearly one year ago, Jerry Markee of Markee's Cycling Center didn't know what was going to happen to his shop. KENNEWICK, WA - While many businesses have had their fair share of struggles during the pandemic one Tri-Cities business saw a boom in customers and is still trying to keep up with demand.

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