GARFIELD RIDGE — If you ever rode a bike in the neighborhoods around Midway International Airport, there's a good chance you've heard of Carmen's Bicycle Shop.
The shop at 6519 S. Archer Ave. has quietly operated as an institution for bike collectors and riders for the last four decades.
Even if you didn't ride a bike, it was difficult to miss the shop's signature hanging Schwinn sign and the Kermit the Frog stuffed animal in the window.
Carmen Haddad, 69, has run the shop at different locations along Archer Avenue since 1971. It all began when his late father, also named Carmen, persuaded him to help him open a new bike shop. For a time, Carmen's doubled as a TV repair business, but when his father unexpectedly died in 1975, Haddad took over and switched to bicycles full time.
He spent a long time learning the trade, eventually gaining the reputation as a top-notch repairman.
"If I got paid by the hour, I’d be a millionaire already," Haddad said of all the time he puts in at the shop. "You don’t look at the clock when you own your own business."
His services run the gamut: He assembles new bicycles to sell, repairs broken ones and refurbishes once-rusted-out classics for customers feeling nostalgic for a memory from childhood.
Common repairs include bent rims, flat tires and loose brakes. Prices range between $21 for a flat to $130 for a full, top-to-bottom tune-up, which includes new brake pads, tires and cables.
He often spends more time in the shop than he probably needs to, but he said he takes pride in what he does, and it's important to get the job done right. Haddad has stayed in the shop past midnight many a night, assembling bicycles delivered to the shop in boxes.
Even if it costs more, customers most often want to buy assembled bicycles because they don’t know how to build one themselves.
A common misconception among bike riders is that all it takes is a screwdriver and a wrench to build a bike. Those who buy already-assembled bikes are surprised by how much work goes into building a bicycle, from tightening the wheel to setting brakes and gears to straightening rims when they’re bent.
Haddad points to the thousands of dollars in equipment required, from spoke tools to pedal wrenches to bicycle stands and frame straighteners.
On the display floor, the job's smell — bike grease, cardboard and rubber — often bring back memories for older customers who spent a lot of time in the bike shops of their neighborhoods.
It's a smell that's becoming rare, he said. Small shops like his are closing more and more.
"Take a drive through the neighborhood and tell me if you see any kids playing outside," said Haddad, who contends kids aren't interested in much more than video games these days.
Haddad once sold skateboards and more bicycles than he currently displays in his shop, but he had to downsize since stores like Walmart and Toys 'R' Us began selling fully assembled bicycles and boards at cheaper rates.
Haddad plans to keep the shop going for at least a few more years. The thought of a life without a shop is a difficult one.
"I've been quitting since I started. I should be retired right now, but I still come," Haddad said. "I'm here all the time. I'm here on my days off, but I guess I do like coming in here."
At one time, Carmen's served as a headquarters for the entire family to hang out. His granddaughter, Kristina Sheedy, plans to take her upcoming wedding photos inside the shop.
"The shop has been such a big part of our family for so long, it’s a piece of all of us," she said. "When deciding where to take pictures for my upcoming wedding, the shop was the first that came to mind."
That shop holds many memories for Sheedy, who remembers a time when people admired Carmen's as the only business on the block with a shop pet.
There were always dogs around: Toby, Rocky, Trapper, and Kelly. The most legendary pet? Campy the cat. The family found her in the alley behind a hotdog joint down the street.
Campy spent her entire life at the shop, sitting near the front window, watching the traffic buzz down Archer Avenue.
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