North Minneapolis Bike Shop Works To Reopen Under New Owner With Big Mission

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Twin Cities community is coming together to help reopen its neighborhood's only Black-owned bicycle shop.

Kennis Littleton recently became the new owner of Venture North Bike Walk & Coffee in north Minneapolis after it closed during the pandemic. He hopes to peddle forth the shop's mission of empowering disadvantaged youth.

"I think it's in the name. Venture North, right? Come and see that it can be a good place," Littleton said.

A vision is brewing, behind its pandemic-shuttered doors.

"Biking means freedom. It means freedom, it means health. It means having the expression to go where you want to go when you want to go," he said. "For me it means representation. Being able to represent the BIPOC community in the bicycle space."

It's something he didn't see as a kid growing up in Minneapolis. But reopening Venture Bike and Coffee has been a venture itself. The small team is in need of donations to open this spring and kick off programs for kids in the community. The previous owner was the neighboring church. It leased it to Littleton after falling on hard financial times during the pandemic.

"I know that we're building something big to help impact the community in a positive way," Chief Marketing Officer Emmanuel Walyaula said.

"Once we get past those hurdles we definitely will be taking a hard look at the Build-A-Bike program, the bicycle internship, and possibly the summer camp," Littleton said.

From fixing bikes to fixing a cup a joe, creating positive change is what drives the team forward to their reopening goals.

Littleton graduated from Minnesota Teen Challenge in 2018 and has been sober for more than four years. He changed his lifestyle and now hopes he can help others.

"Being in this new role as a businessman, and a father, a husband, all these different things it just fills me up, it really does. I wouldn't change it for the world," he said.

Venture North Bike Walk & Coffee plans to open on April 1. They're collecting donations to get started.