Long-Running Hutong Bike Shop Natooke to Close

[CORRECTION: Oct 31, 11am] Freda Fu, the head of sales at Natooke, has since followed up to say that the shop’s team will soldier on for as long as possible at their Fangjia location, despite the looming possibility of closure. She says they are also looking into an alternative location for the shop.

After nearly a decade of selling their trademark colorful bikes and coordinating fun cycling trips, hutong institution Natooke is poised to shut down operations.

When asked about the closure of their current location at 46 Fangjia Hutong – where the business relocated in January from their long-running Wudaoying hutong digs – owner Ines Brunn said: “Things change fast in Beijing and we survived more than nine and a half years.”

This high-profile closure is yet another melancholy milestone in the widespread shuttering of street-side businesses in Beijing. Known colloquially as The Great Brickening, this citywide beautification campaign began in earnest in early 2017, then claimed slews of popular bars, restaurants, and shops on a regular basis throughout much of that year.

In the wake of that shakeup, a handful of establishments bravely managed to hold on. But in recent weeks a few more long-running favorites have also succumbed to the seemingly inevitable, including Fang cocktail bar in September and craft beer and pub grub stalwart Stuff’d earlier this month.

Natooke’s closure is noteworthy not only because it is a veteran establishment, or because of its distinctive cycling products and community of pedal enthusiasts. On top of all that, Brunn became a celebrity in her own right thanks to her gravity-defying cycling tricks, which she has performed on a number of widely viewed Chinese television programs, not to mention gracing the cover the Beijinger’s September 2013 issue pulling off such an impressive stunt.  

When looking back on the bike shop's legacy, Brunn recalls how, "My mission was to get the Chinese people back on bikes" because, in the early '00s "there were fewer and fewer people on bikes and the bike lanes were all getting turned into car lanes or car parking, which I thought was the wrong direction. But in those times bikes were considered to be only for poor people."

To counter that, she worked with an NGO to raise awareness about the environmental benefits of cycling, along with founding stylish riding clubs and opening Natooke, where she sold bikes with more unique designs and color schemes. She says: "Suddenly there was some interest from rich hipsters that were into design and architecture and photography that found the bikes to be beautiful."

On the upside, Natooke will offer major clearance discounts ahead of the closure, which you can read more about here.

Read: Our comprehensive coverage of the business-busting Great Brickening

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Photos: Amber De La Haye, Uni You, Sui