Received this E-mail last night:
 
"Greetings, beloved customers!
 
Don't panic. After 27 years of doing this recumbent biz, Mike Librik (that's me) is closing down Easy Street Recumbents showroom operations. The Austin showroom will close on April 30th unless someone takes it off my hands and keeps it going. The Keller showroom will do the same on July 31st.
 
Neither Mike in Austin, nor Micah in Fort Worth, will disappear. We will continue to support our current customers by appointment. Our major suppliers are aware of this change and will continue to provide us with parts as long as needed. Again, don't panic.
 
In Fort Worth, Micah intends to continue some sort of established operation, so he's keeping all his tools. The nature of this operation depends on what investment support he gets, but he plans to stay active in recumbent retail and service. If you'd like to invest in his shop then let him know.
 
In Austin, I will still be available for trike work, but will be actively advocating the establishment of a new recumbent specialist in Austin that can render me redundant. I don't expect that will be too soon.
 
If you or anyone you know is interested in the exciting work of specialty retail in the 21st century, put them in touch with me! I've got two complete shops, with tools and supplies, vendor accounts, fixtures, doddering old computers, and a battery-powered towel dispenser. Valuable intangibles like branding, website, phone numbers, and customer sales data is available to anyone buying the operation(s) whole. I wouldn't call my financials “impressive,” but if you factor in my lack of management professionalism and neglect of common budgeting and marketing practices you'd see there is a lot of easy improvements to be done.
 
It sounds banal, but my real satisfaction in this work has been the care of my customers. I grow decreasingly interested in the technology. What motivates me is the pleasure that my customers get from that technology. I don't even ride my own bike that much since I quit using it for my primary transportation.
 
On the other hand, Micah's heart remains with cycling, and with exploring what the latest technology is doing to transform his riding and yours. Hopefully we'll be seeing him shaping his own operation, which I'm sure won't look entirely like mine.
 
More to come. Keep in touch. I'm closing down this mailing list, so any further notices will be on the ESR website blog and Facebook pages."