RETAILERS
MAMACHARI T
Daniel Blackham visits Mamachari in Walthamstow and catches up with store manager Julian Fenton to discuss the store’s origins, market changes and why supporting IBDs is so important
he origins of all bike shops are unique. For some, it’s a family heirloom passed down generations, for others it comes from a burning passion to make a
career out of what they love. For Noah Fisher, founder of Mamachari, it started with a conversation in a bicycle shop in London. A customer, who had lived in Japan, went to look at bikes and was shocked at how fancy and expensive the bikes were. ‘In Japan a normal city bike is cheap and built like a tank. Why doesn’t someone load up a container and bring them here?’ The seed was planted. Fisher sat on the idea for several years before a similar conversation took place.
Come 2012, Mamachari had opened its doors in Dalson with a simple mission: to bring mamachari bicycles to the UK at affordable prices. “Mamachari is Japanese slang for ‘mummy bike’ or ‘mummy chariot’,” explains Julian Fenton, store manager of Mamachari, which relocated to Forest Road, Walthamstow in 2015.
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“It’s a specific type of bike with a 20/22 inch front wheel and a 26 inch back wheel, super low step over, chopper-style handlebars, a child seat in the middle of the handlebars or a child seat on the back.” “They’re very popular in Japan. A utilitarian bike and everyone’s got one to nip around on.” Fisher sold through a couple of containers full of secondhand mamachari bikes and never looked back. “A little bit ahead of the game with cargo bikes,” added
Fenton.
“They were popular because of the price we were doing them at and we still see them around East London.” As the business grew, the owners added more products and accessories from a range of brands – still aligning with the demands of an established customer base. “At the time, we were already doing Tern’s range of folding
bikes and then the GSD was launched, so that coincided nicely [with the rise of cargo bikes],” explained Fenton. “Since then we’ve added other products like Larry vs Harry Bullitts and we do Brompton as well as Gocycle.”
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