From restaurants to clothing stores, there are many businesses of all kinds present on St. Charles Main Street. It has always been a very popular destination for people to hang out, buy antiques or just relax. One of these businesses on Main, however, has a far more specific goal; a lakeside café for bikers.
“We have a bike side and a café side, it’s like split evenly in half and on the bike side we sell bikes, so you can rent a bike and on the café side you can eat,” junior Brayden Prouhet said.
As the name would imply, the entire café serves two split functions. It acts as a relaxing place to grab some food, sit down and eat, and it doubles as somewhere where those who enjoy biking, whether casually or for sport, can go to get their bike fixed, or rent a bike from the store.
“The whole place has a lot of gluten-free stuff and vegetarian, so when it comes to things like the egg wraps, I haven’t really seen many other places with those options,” junior Camryn Brockman said.
A lot of restaurants do not offer more flexible options for people of all different diets and for people who have all sorts of health conditions. The Bike Stop Café, however, is one of those restaurants that offers multiple different options for people of all preferences and conditions.
“I think they’re just trying to keep the old-town vibe to it,” Prouhet said. “I don’t think they want to change it all too much cause that’s sort of what the restaurants all about.”
Main Street is one of the longest standing areas in Missouri. Because of this, it has gone through a lot of changes. Stores have moved in and out of the area and a lot of businesses bring in a more modern feel, whether that be in the branding or how they are decorated. The Bike Stop Café, however, brings about an old, comfortable feeling unchanged by time, and also provides not just the biking community, but the entire St. Charles community with a place to connect, go biking and get some coffee.
