What is The What Not Shop?

(Original Post 12/14/07)

The What Not Shop Bike Co-op was an attempt at starting a bike co-op in a small town (Washburn, WI) in the summer of '05. It was named in memory of my grandmother Joyce Compton, who ran the two storied semi-thrift antique random stuff shop in town. I have fond memories of being scared when I was a youngster while wondering through the dim lit creaky old house it was in. The reasons the reasons the bike co-op did not work are simple: lack of knowledge and a small population... The What Not Shop Bike Co-op has, for now, become an extension of my mind and my bicycle fantasies. Enjoy.

This is an e-mail and my response from when the co-op was operating:

-Hey, I'm really glad to see you making this happen. When I was a kid in Washburn there was a bike shop on the very west end of Bayfield St. It was cool. But not as cool as a co-op. Woo-Hoo!! And also, when I was a kid there was a vintage thrift store run by this ancient woman with red-orange lipstick and it was called the What-not-shop too. Peace, Amelia

M-That "ancient woman with red-orange lipstick" was my grandma, that was her store, "The What Not Shop", the bike co-op, blog, and all the other doings of myself in my life are all named in memory of her. Glad you remembered...