A Moncton-area electric bike seller has expanded, opening a new showroom and repair shop closer to the heart of the city.

eDrive Powersports sells electric bicycles and scooters. Stephen Robinson started the business about a year ago, running his showroom and repair shop out of Shediac Cape.

With the popularity of electric bikes on the rise, he tells Huddle it was time to move to a more prominent location.

“The location that I had was at the end of a road and even people in the town didn’t know that the place was there… it wasn’t just for visibility,” he says. “I needed to be closer to Moncton, so this puts me six minutes past the Costco, which everybody knows where the Costco is.”

He and his wife ended up buying the building that now houses his expanded showroom, splitting it in half so his wife could run her business, HOST Management, out of the other side.

Robinson says his new space is about 33 percent bigger than his old one, letting him showcase a bigger selection of bikes and scooters and have more room for the repair side of the business.

He says the property also has enough room to build a gravel path that will allow customers to test their bikes before they buy them.

Stephen Robinson in his new showroom. Image: Contributed

Robinson got into the e-bike business after retiring from his 32-year career as a banker. He tells Huddle the Covid-19 pandemic forced him to take a long look at his life and career.

He saw many of his peers who had been through four or five careers over their lives and he had been in the same line of work for decades.

“Truth be told, Covid makes you think about your mortality. And it was like, alright, well, it’s 32 years now. I think it’s time to do something different. That’s really what it was,” he said.

He says he sleeps less now than he ever did, and he’s constantly worrying about the business, but he couldn’t be happier with his decision.

“I’ve never worked so hard,” he says with a chuckle. “As an entrepreneur, it’s very, very, very busy. There’s a lot going on. You’ve got to be a multi-tasker. But not having three or four or five meetings a day set in stone is kind of nice as well.”

Robinson says he’s looking forward to warmer weather, which will encourage more people to get outside and, hopefully, get on board the growing e-bike craze.

“You see them everywhere now, and there’s a reason. You’ve got to at least come down and try one out, see what you’re missing,” he says.

The new shop has been open since the beginning of March, but its official grand opening weekend celebration will take place from April 13-15. The showroom sits at 2311 Route 115, in Irishtown.

Trevor Nichols is the Editor of Huddle Today, a content-sharing partner of Acadia Broadcasting.