The longtime owner of The Bike Stop announced this week that the bar will change ownership, although it will continue its more-than 25-year history of serving the local leather community.
Jim Madden, who has owned the establishment at 206 S. Quince St. since 1997, is selling the bar to Piranha Sushi, LLC, headed by Bike Stop employee Robert Porter 3rd.
Porter, a Bike Stop manager, has worked at the bar for more than seven years, and he and Madden have been in talks for some time about the possible sale.
“This has been a couple years in the process,” Madden said. “Bob had intimated to me some years ago that he’d eventually be interested in buying the bar if I would be interested in selling it.”
Madden does not own the building in which Bike Stop is housed but rents the property, and he and Porter are currently finalizing paperwork for the transfer of the lease.
Madden, who said he will no longer be involved at Bike Stop, said he doesn’t expect any interruptions to the club’s operations with Porter’s company taking over.
“Everything’s going to continue the way that it is, with their new brand of improvements,” he said. “Bob and I are good friends, and I trust him to carry on the traditions here.”
The Bike Stop has been open since 1982, and Porter said he’s hoping to capitalize on the establishment’s rich history to help elevate the visibility of the local leather community and draw new patrons.
“Bike Stop is the cornerstone of the leather community in Philadelphia,” he said. “With the community’s help, we want to put Philadelphia’s leather community back on the map and show the rest of the country that there is this great real estate between New York and D.C. We really want the place to be reinvigorated with new blood.”
Porter said he does expect to make some internal renovations to update the club’s look, but nothing major is planned yet, and the façade of the building will remain the same.
While Porter said he wants to bring in new customers, he is not planning to alter the club’s staff base; Bike Stop currently has four employees who’ve been working at the bar for about 15 years, another four who are 20-year employees and one who’s been with Bike Stop for 27 years.
“We have a very-long-lived staff, and that’s part of the beauty of The Bike Stop and something we want to continue,” he said.
Porter was unsure when the deal would be finalized, as he’s waiting on approval of license transfers.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].