BIKE STORE RENT ROLLS WITH PRICE OF CRUDE
	Organization: Philly Electric Wheels    Date Posted: 07/07/10
	Contact: 215.821.9266 http://www.phillyew.com     meenal.raval@gmail.com Short Description: Starting this September, the rent for Philly Electric Wheels, the only store in Philadelphia dedicated to electric bicycles, will be pegged to the price of light crude oil. Long Description: Starting this September, the rent for Philly Electric Wheels, the only store in Philadelphia dedicated to electric bicycles, will be pegged to the price of light crude oil. Store owner Afshin Kaighobady says sales increase when the cost of gasoline rises. For the store’s second year, he re-negotiated terms with his landlady based on their shared assumption that that trend will continue and we can all do our part to lower the carbon footprint. It costs about penny a mile to ride an electric bicycle, he says, and you can go up to 20 mph and as far as 25 or more miles on a single full charge from an ordinary wall socket. Plus, it’s fun, an antidote to rising gasoline prices if there ever was one. “My other car is an electric bicycle” is the favorite slogan in the store, called “Phew!” by its fans. The corner store is located in the Green on Greene building, at the corner of Carpenter Lane and Greene Street, just west of Lincoln Drive. The monthly rent on the 550 sq. ft. storefront will be pegged to $80/barrel, starting in September. (In 2008, the average price was $91 per barrel with a high of $126. The average for 2009 was $53/barrel. It is currently $80 per barrel, the baseline for rent in the store.) Whatever percent that rises (or falls), so goes the rent. If recent past is precedent, that rent would range from $625 to $1575. “But past isn’t precedent, building owner Pam Rogow says. “The cost of crude will continue to rise.” Phew has gone crude!