Aloha, It is with great sadness that we share that most of Lahaina has been lost along with our brand new Downtown Lahaina bike shop. Finances raised will help keep our two other smaller shops stay in business and stay operational. We have 16 employees that we would like to take care of and keep as many on payroll as possible merging them into 2 stores. We will also use donations to help cover employees’ personal items, cars, bikes and other belongings lost in the fire. As well as relocation assistance.
Our employee who was in the bike shop at the time was able to escape just in time via an e-bike which was a godsend as he didn’t get stuck in traffic. It was a very difficult ride for him being blown over by 60-80mph and watching the shop he called home become engulfed in black smoke right before his eyes. He will not be able to return to his home and is relocated We are very thankful our entire team is safe. It is a tragic time here for everyone on such a small island, every person knows someone affected. To be completely honest, if feels like COVID combined with 9/11. It’s just gutting.
We will continue to offer excellent work, customer service and products to keep the local community on two wheels. We love Maui, the community, and all of the visitors that we have met over the years and have become part of our Ohana. Any support and love will be grateful in such devastating times to us and the local bike community. As we look to rebuild in Lahaina which is going to take a very long time, we will also be doing our best to give back to the local community through the projects that we had started as we know our community support means so much to us.
Lahaina town was our newest bike shop that rivaled many big shops on the mainland. We decided to build this new bike shop last fall to give back to our Maui community a spectacular sales, service and rental shop that was comparable to a pro-level shop on the mainland. We put months of blood, sweat and tears into this as we completely remodeled an old historic building on the corner of Lahainaluna Rd and Waine’e, one block from Front St in the heart of downtown Lahaina.
The local community came pouring in to thank us for making the community better in this area of town next to so many homes and businesses. We had many customers and friends that lived directly in the area that also lost their homes and businesses in this tragedy. Sadly, so many of our customers had bikes in the shop when we lost them. The team had been working on many community projects for the kids, bike safety, new bike paths and trails which we will continue to move forward as this is the heart of our local bike community. It is going to be a long road ahead but we the town and community will rebuild in time. Our passion for biking and love for Maui has never been stronger.
The impacts financially right now aren’t even fathomable. As the events that took place are also impacting our other locations with refunds and cancellations pouring in for the bike tour and rental side of our business as travel is not advised for the foreseeable future. We estimate about $75,000 in refunds that we will have to pay back in the coming weeks which we will honor. While insurance will be able to help recover some of the losses it will not be able to cover the $100s of thousand we poured into the building to make it what it was. The loss of tools, inventory, and so much more is hard to imagine. The devastating loss of customers’ bikes that burned as well as local art and vintage bikes showing the history of the sport were all lost. Our passion and drive will remain strong and we will push forward as bike transportation will always be important for every community.
Maui Sunriders Bike Co. Owners Crystal & Jeff Robertson
“We poured our hearts & souls, blood, sweat & tears into remodeling & building our Lahaina Bike Shop in the center of Historic Downtown. For 1 ½ years my husband and i both worked 7 days a week to make our dream a reality. A Big Thank you to all of our employees that worked endlessly to Help us build such a beautiful space. This shop is sentimental to them as well. they poured their love into the building. We couldn’t have built these shops without them. thank you!” –Crystal
We had the below virtual tour made just a few weeks before the fire:
“What brought me the most pleasure from all of our hard work…was hearing locals thank us for cleaning up the neighborhood and making it safer. Parents thanking us for keeping their kids active and inspired to bike. If you were able to visit us in the 8 months that we were open, many visitors said this bike shop rivaled their mainland shops. Visitors from around the world even shared this was the coolest bike shop they had ever been in. There’s a lot of sentimental value that I will hold in my heart forever. Hearing customers thank us and reach out to us truly makes me proud to have delivered above expectation what we set out to offer the community.”
“I had a private dream I didn’t share with anyone, as an interior design major, I was hoping one day I could get this bike shop published in a Top 10 list of Best Bike Shops in America. It’s gone now and to look at all the pictures of us remodeling and building such a rad space is very heartbreaking. Extremely heartbreaking. If I could volunteer our shop to burn to save the rest… I would do so in a heartbeat. What makes this that much incredibly harder to bare is to see the complete devastation of the entire community, the loss of life, the historic architecture, character & culture, all Gone. We’re crushed right now.”
Crystal, Co-Owner
Lahaina Fire Engulfed New Maui Sunriders Bike Shop
I am sorry to hear about the wild fires. crushing news. I am glad to know both of you are safe, but my heart goes out to you for the loss of the community and town and shop.
kind regards.
_Stephen