Urban Bike Project of Wilmington Delaware will soon be embarking on a Capital Campaign to structurally stabilize and re-fit our current location which is an 100+ year old city-owned former police carriage barn. We are a non-profit community bike shop located in a low income inner city area. We have an architect engaged to help with some preliminary plans and drawings, and we've met with a number of our key volunteers to discuss how we can change our current space to maximize efficiency. This is a rather broad question, but I'm wondering if anyone has any practical experience on do's and don't's for such an undertaking or any other useful advice? We're trying to co-locate as best as possible our tools and work-stands and locate our used parts closer as well. This will limit the movement required with our current design and allow us to keep a closer watch on things to limit theft as best we can. Also trying to formalize a waiting area to help prevent customers wandering which is a particular problem during Youth Open Shop night,but also with adults. As I said, a rather broad topic but maybe someone on this list has real experience that they want to share. This may become a conversation better taken off-line as our plans begin to take shape but I wanted to put it out there as an early probe to test this list,
Thanks,
Mike Czupryna Urban Bike Project of Wilmington, DE Board Chair and Youth Open Shop Volunteer Mechanic http://www.urbanbikeproject.com/