This post highlights the first retail stores participating in Monterey County’s HER Helmet Thursdays project.

It also features national Bike to Shop Day.

“Discounts when you bike to go shopping?” Yes, among the hundreds of businesses and organizations offering HER Helmet Thursdays discounts for people who bike are some where you can shop.

The bike-to-shop Thursday discounts, offered year-round, are highlighted in three sections of this post: Bike Shops, Miscellaneous Retail Shops, and Wineries.

Below those are shopping-by-bike tips, plus a history of Bike to Shop Day, an annual event celebrated nationwide as part of Bike Month. Most communities around the USA celebrate Bike to Shop Day annually on the third Saturday of the month of May.

Short link to the Tips for Bicycling Monterey County guide’s Shopping by Bike section: http://bit.ly/ShopByBike

Yes! In Monterey County,

shoppers-by-bike can get discounts on Thursdays.

About the discounts: Participants in the HER Helmet Thursdays Project are primarily Hotels, Educational and entertainment venues, Restaurants, and related places. But among the hundreds of participating business and organizations, there are some surprises too—including some retail shops and wineries who wanted to be in the project! In addition, beginning in November 2017, a special group of retail shops—local bicycle shops—were invited into the project. Below, see the first of these special categories of HER Helmet Thursdays participants. For any additional participants, refer to the “LISTINGS, How to Get the Discounts, and FAQs about HER Helmet Thursdays” page.

Why haven’t other kinds of businesses and organizations been included? Since launched in 2009 (see history in the Earth Day 2010 issue of the Monterey County Weekly), HER Helmet Thursdays is an entirely volunteer effort and very time-consuming for the founder (c’est moi). Since it just wasn’t feasible for an unpaid volunteer to enroll every different type of interested business and organization, the project launched with Hotels, Educational and entertainment venues, Restaurants, and related places. Do let the participants below know that you appreciate how they’ve helped expand the project to include new categories.

If you bike to shop at any of the following places on a Thursday, get a discount; click here for HER Helmet Thursdays how-tos and FAQs.

* * *

HER Helmet Thursdays

Bike Shops

Shopping by bike for bicycle gear and accessories? Most of Monterey County’s local bike shops now give HER Helmet Thursdays discounts (note that most exclude bicycles and not-in-stock items / special orders). The first bike shop participants are listed below, in alphabetical order.

1. Bobcat Bicycles, Salinas

2. DC-10 / Doug Chandler Performance, Salinas

3. Marina Cycle & Skate, Marina

4. Peninsula Bike Works, Monterey

5. Rooster Wheels Bike Shop, Marina

6. Valley Bikes, Salinas

7. Winning Wheels Bicycle Shop, Pacific Grove (January 2024 update: Owners of Winning Wheels, the Chavez family, announced that in a few weeks they will be closing their shop of 38 years.)

8. Work Horse Bicycles, Monterey.

When bike shops were invited in 2017 to join the HER Helmet Thursdays Project, as part of celebrating the project’s 8th anniversary, the very first to sign up was Work Horse Bicycles. Work Horse is located on the Griffin Plaza (pictured below) in downtown Monterey.

* * *

HER Helmet Thursdays

Miscellaneous Retail Shops

• Cha-Ya Japanese Tea and Things, downtown Monterey (located across the street from the side of the Monterey Post Office)

• Eco Carmel, Carmel-by-the-Sea (Charming residential neighborhoods near and surrounding Eco Carmel also make a Carmel bike ride special for viewing architecture and landscapes.)

• Halē Kai Lana Kona Coffee, Sand City (a short ride from the Monterey Bay coastal trail)

• Monterey Bay Photo Lab, New Monterey (There are new bike racks along Lighthouse Avenue, including—across and up the street—directly in front of Monterey Bay Photo Lab.)

• Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History museum store, Pacific Grove (between the Monterey Bay coastal trail and downtown PG)

  

* * *

HER Helmet Thursdays

Wineries

Shopping by bike for wine, or going wine tasting? Get HER Helmet Thursdays discounts at these bike-friendly wineries:

1. De Tierra Vineyards Tasting Room, Carmel

2. Hahn SLH Estate Winery, Soledad

3. Massa Estate Organic Vineyards (formerly Heller Estate Organic), Carmel Valley

4. Pierce Ranch Vineyards, Monterey

5. Scheid Vineyards Estate Winery and Tasting Room, Greenfield

6. Scheid Vineyards Tasting Room, Carmel

7. Zeph’s One-Stop, Salinas

* * *

Shopping-by-Bike Resources

Since February 2010, tips for shopping by bike anywhere, along with tips specific to Monterey County, are in Bicycling Monterey’s Tips for Bicycling Monterey County 20-section guide.

Short link to that Shopping by Bike section:

http://bit.ly/ShopByBike

Biking just about anywhere makes sense for so many reasons; see a list in why bike. And as reports in shopping by bike point out, it’s often the case that people who shop by bike are better customers for local businesses than people who drive.

Consider also: shop farmers markets by bike, as Elliott (below) does.

* * *

Bike to Shop Day

Bike Month celebrations in Monterey County and elsewhere include Bike to Shop Day. Nationwide, most observed it on the third Saturday in May.

History of Bike to Shop Day: In 2014, to add to the fun of Bike Month, our neighbors to the north at the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition inaugurated Bike to Shop Day. SVBC member Janet LaFleur AKA Lady LaFleur had an inspiration and vision; read about it here, on the League of American Bicyclists website. In 2015, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition launched SFBC’s first Bike to Shop Day. Many others have followed suit.

Short link to this post: http://bit.ly/BikeToShopDay

(For more Bike Month activities, click here.)

Short links to this post: this post highlights the first shops participating in the HER Helmet Thursdays project, hence the short link https:/bit.ly/HHTShops; as well as national Bike to Shop Day, hence http://bit.ly/BikeToShopDay.

This post was previously published on April 6, 2017.