Iron Springs Pub & Brewery in Fairfax has always been a fine place to find a bite to eat and a cold pint. And I was happy to see the business expand into downtown San Rafael with Iron Springs Public House where it was more convenient for me to indulge.
But when the Public House shut down late last year, a victim of the COVID economy, I feared that other changes could be in the offing.
Now comes word that the proprietors of Iron Springs, Anne and Michael Altman, are getting out of the brewing business. But fans of great beer should not despair as Sonoma County’s HenHouse Brewing Company will be taking over the Iron Spring location.
While the warm hospitality and quality fare from Iron Springs will be missed, those who have sampled HenHouse’s IPA know that the Santa Rosa brewing company does it right. Up until now, HenHouse has relied upon an array of food trucks to provide eats for hungry patrons in Santa Rosa and Petaluma. But the Fairfax location will allow HenHouse to do its own food for the first time.
And for those concerned that Marin is losing a business that has always embraced its community with Give Back Tuesdays, HenHouse has pledged to jump into Iron Spring’s considerable kicks in this regard.
The new Henhouse will be open in early 2022.
Mikes Bikes goes international
Another local business that has changed hands is Novato-based Mike’s Bikes. With a dozen retail locations including San Rafael and Sausalito, the Bel Marin Keys business was acquired by Pon Group, a Dutch firm with interests in engineering, transportation and recreation. Pon owns more than 10 bike brands including Santa Cruz.
Details of the transaction were not revealed.
Mike’s will remain in Novato and at least some of the current management remains on board. But changes have already taken place. Mike’s has long stocked Specialized Bikes, a well-established mountain bike brand from Morgan Hill. With the sale to Pon, Specialized will no longer be sold by Mike’s in the future.
The back and forth in cycling circles over who did what has been anything but illuminating, but the bottom line is: Marinites looking for Specialized products will need to look elsewhere down the line.
It will also be interesting how the new ownership will impact Mike’s ability to deliver bikes in a post-COVID world. Like many sectors, the pandemic has challenged the bike business like supply chain woes paired with increased demand have made bikes via retailers harder to come by. With the gym and fitness facilities closed, people turned to old-fashioned bicycles. Likewise, parents faced with kids at home all day increased demand as well.
While Specialized is no longer doing business with Mike’s, the new ownership should improve product flow to Mike’s, even if it’s just the other Pom-owned brands.
The acquisition of Mike’s by Pon also highlights a trend in the bike business of consolidation as large bike brands snap up retailers in an effort to gain market slice, improve distribution and grow brands.
Your Marin moment
Parklets. Two years ago, no one knew what a parklet was. Now they are omnipresent and complicating life in San Anselmo.
The parking-space-turned-dining-areas were employed to give restaurants a fighting chance to survive during COVID. And now, the Town Council is considering an ordinance to make the temporary nods to alfresco dining permanent.
Citing stats from a survey, the town staff reported that more than 90% of respondents want the parklets kept around. Merchants, on the other hand, are about split at 53%, and 79% of visitors think parklets should stick around.
And then there is Benjamin Disraeli’s famous musing, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
The issue has kicked off a lively debate over parking, use of public property, and restaurants vs. retail. It has also given us this little gem from Mayor Brian Colbert, “Downtown does not belong to the businesses. The community has voted resoundingly with their dollars, with their activity, that this is what they want,” according to the Marin Independent Journal.
It really isn’t that simple, and without businesses downtown, you can have all the parklets you want because nobody will be parking. You can debate who the downtown belongs to until the organic cows come home. But having spent lots of time watching downtown retailers in Marin lose ground to malls and online outlets, I can say with a fair degree of certainty having a vibrant downtown is all about balancing a cool business mix, with convenient parking. Favor eateries over shops and yank parking, and you will soon find the public buying goods elsewhere and an increase of vacant storefronts.
Bill Meagher is a contributing editor at NorthBay biz and pens this column each month. He keeps the wolf from the door as a senior editor at The Deal, a Manhattan-based digital financial news outlet. He wishes you a joyous and peaceful holiday.
