Bike Racks: Community Food Co-op (Cordata)

The Community Food Co-op store on the north end of town, at Cordata and Westerly, has WONDERFUL bike parking. Like their Forest St. store (previously reviewed), there are multiple racks spread among multiple locations -- specifically 4 racks in 3 locations. Whoo-hoo!

Click to Embiggen

Click through for all the details.

Bike Racks: Community Food Co-op (N. Forest St. store)

The last post I wrote about bike parking at grocery stores had almost as many recommendations for improvements as it had points of praise. Happily not every store in town puts bike parking in second place. The Community Food Co-op store on N. Forest St. apparently ranks bikes as equal to cars, which makes me happy to shop there.
They don't just have a couple racks, like many stores. They have multiple locations for racks. There's the Hanging Racks Shelter in the Parking Lot:

Hang Your Bike. Or lean it. Your choice.

Then there's the Big Purple Rack on the Sidewalk:

Arty!

And there's also the Place Where The Good Racks Sometimes Are:

Mentioned Previously

I'll review them after the break.

Bike Racks: The Good, The Bad, and the Arty

Today begins what will be a continuing feature highlighting bike parking here in Bellingham.

One of my concerns as a cyclist is having a place to securely park my bike at my destination. Most of this parking is made available by businesses, employers, and landlords, and there's wide variation in availability and quality.

What defines good and bad when it comes to secure bike parking? Why, me, of course. Although I guess that's really a 'who'. But the criteria I use to judge my happiness with a rack includes such things as:

• Can a u-lock secure both the frame and at least one wheel to the rack?
• Can a bike lean against the rack in such a way that the bike won't tip over (preferably 2 points of support)?
• Is it covered/sheltered from the rain?
• Is it well-lit and and have good sight-lines?
• How easy and safe is it to get to the rack?
• How close is it to the entrance I want to use?

Some of those criteria are detailed in the City of Toronto's advice re. Bicycle Parking - Choosing a Rack. The City of Portland also has great advice for anyone looking to install bike parking, which was helpful when the condo board I was on for several years was considering adding capacity.

I'll be praising bike parking that makes me happy; criticizing parking that needs improvement; and noting with wonderment some of the crazy things people do with metal tubing. The ultimate goal is to use this as a springboard to improve poor bike biking  parking situations.

It's worth noting that twice in my life I've spoken to a grocery store manager about poor bike parking, and both times the situation was substantially improved not too much later -- one of them was the Trader Joe's here in town. I highly doubt I was the only person to speak up in these situations, but it does emphasize the importance of letting your suggestions for improvement be known.

If you know of a bike parking situation in Bellingham that deserves a "Needs Improvement", feel free to let me know, and I'll see if a tiny bit of publicity can help. But also, please be sure to tell whomever would be responsible for making a change. Most likely they don't use a bike for transportation and don't know their bike parking is sub-par. 

After the jump you'll find the first bike rack!