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Unable To Recover From Tax Trouble, D.J.'s Bike Doctor Closing

By Sam Cholke | April 28, 2017 5:56am
 D.J.'s Bike Doctor Owner David Jones said he will close the store and move out of the neighborhood.
D.J.'s Bike Doctor Owner David Jones said he will close the store and move out of the neighborhood.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

HYDE PARK — D.J.’s Bike Doctor is shutting down in the fall after seven years in Hyde Park and owner David Jones is leaving after a lifetime in the neighborhood.

Jones said Thursday he hasn’t been able to recover financially after finding out in 2015 he was $30,000 behind on his taxes, a situation he blamed on his accountant.

“This looks to me like it’s shutting down — it’s too much,” Jones said. “It’s the first year I’m starting in debt.”

He said he’s close to paying off the back taxes and with a good biking season this year, the bill will likely be gone. In November, he moved the store to 1344 E. 55th St. from the Hyde Park Shopping Center to cut costs.

“It’s possible I could make a go of it, but there are a lot of other things working against me, like the internet and people are broke,” Jones said.

He said he’s planning to move to Arizona and aims to continue working in the bicycle business.

It will be Jones’ first serious venture outside of the neighborhood. He was born in the shuttered Osteopathic Hospital in Hyde Park and attended Bret Harte and Murray elementary schools and Kenwood High School.

Despite a lifetime working a means of transportation, it has never carried Jones, who now lives in Bronzeville, far from Hyde Park.

He spent 20 years honing his skills at Hyde Park mainstay Art’s Cycle when it was still at 55th Street and Cornell Avenue.

Jones said sometime in the fall he will pack up his tools and sell or donate the remainder of his stock and make plans to move out of Hyde Park for the first time.