Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2019 - 28

Feature .01

It is 6 p.m. on a
Saturday, and the
bike shop's back
room is buzzing.
The latest Alabama Shakes album pours
through the speakers while Alejandro Bolar,
one of Atlanta's up-and-coming chefs, is in
the kitchen churning out beautifully plated,
upscale comfort cuisine. Well-heeled patrons waiting for their food scootch past cyclists quenching their thirst with local brews.
Foodies take Instagram pictures of their
plates while a family snags a shot of themselves with their bikes in front of some street
art. The Hassan brothers, Ezz-Eldin, 39, and
Sharif, 36, look out at the crowd from across
the bar. They reach across it and hug almost
everybody who comes through. They know
they have created something special.
Welcome to The Spindle. This urban commuter apparel shop is Atlanta's Room of
Requirement: The space becomes whatever the community needs-whether that's a
meeting place, a restaurant, a hangout spot, or
somewhere to just chill.
The location is divided into two spaces: Up
front it is business as usual, and customers come
in to browse biking wares. The back section has
a bar and several tables. During the day, it serves
an array of healthy meals meant to fuel cyclists
and locals that pass by. On weekend evenings,
like tonight, it's a pop-up restaurant for enterprising chefs still building their reputations.
Earlier in the afternoon a group of riders
threw a surprise birthday party for a friend:
The sound of noise makers filled the air and
the candles on the Guy Fieri cake sizzled as the
birthday boy grinned from ear to ear. During
the middle of the day, some folks from the local cycling community participated in a bike
swap. Even the torrential rain couldn't keep
their spirits down and their vibe permeated
the room-incredibly bright, a little quirky,
definitely all Atlanta.

28 OUTDOOR RETAILER

/ Summer 2019

his entire enterprise started with a
gift. Ten years ago Sharif gave his
older brother a glossy black Trek
road bike rigged to be a single speed
for his birthday. Ezz found cycling faster than
driving Atlanta's often gridlocked streets and
started commuting by bike. His new routine
was hard on his clothes-jeans ripped in all the
wrong spots at the worst times, and shirt tails
were rarely long enough. Sharif, who worked
as a bike messenger and bartender at the time,
realized that his wardrobe couldn't stand up to
the rigorous riding he did every day, either.
The figure-hugging sports gear that roadies
wear wasn't their style. The brothers' goal was to
find dual-purpose clothing that worked well on

the bike but also looked normal when off of it, so
they could sit at a bar or their desks in their riding gear. "I was a bike messenger, but I was also
a freelance photographer on the side. I was going to meetings with folks, and you can't go to a
business meeting dressed in tights," Sharif says.
And as Atlanta continues to get more congested, riding a bicycle to meet up with friends
just makes sense. "We want to be able to go to
a restaurant, bar, art studio, or film and walk
in looking like we just valeted our car," Sharif
says. "This city has a lot of festivals and it's
great to be able to just ride your bike down
there and not have to scour for parking."
The brothers needed clothing that could
take a beating, so they spent their extracurricular time cold calling companies to see
what cycling-friendly clothing they offered
and spent their commutes trying out the
gear. They would buy the clothes they liked,
interview the makers, and publish a review
(the blog still lives on The Spindle's website).
Friends wanted to know where they got their
clothes, and pressed them to open a shop.
Eventually, they relented.
When the Hassans decided to open their
store, they did their fair share of research but
relied heavily on what they knew. Sharif did a
stint at the now defunct magazine Hooked on
the Outdoors while Ezz worked in transportation and sales. "We play off of our strengths,"
Sharif says. "I worked in the editorial world
THE ROOM OF REQUIREMENT
The Spindle's bar and
seating area serves as
everything from a coffee (and
beer) lounge for daily
commuters to a staging point
for spur-of-the-moment
alleycat races to a pop-up
restauraunt on weekends.

Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2019

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