Does spending $5 a week on gas sound like pure fantasy? For Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents, it’s now a reality, thanks to Carrboro’s new Scooters Inc.

The scooter store opened at 211 E. Main St. on Aug. 10. Dave Jansen, the store’s owner, is also the owner of Combustion Cycles, a motorcycle store in Durham.

Passersby might miss the small store if not for the vibrantly colored display of scooters outside. Once inside, a visitor will be greeted with a mini-showroom featuring several top-of-the-line scooters, as well as helmets and apparel designed specifically for scooter drivers. Its urban-chic feel is accentuated by several paintings by local artist Nathaniel Quinn for sale on the walls.

Tonya Stewart, the store’s manager and a Carrboro resident, has ridden scooters since she was young.

“Managing the store was just a natural fit for me,” she said.

The scooter store has been running smoothly since its inception, and sales average at about three scooters per week. All age groups, from high school students to retirees, have enjoyed purchasing new scooters. About 70 percent of customers thus far have been women, who frequently find scooters to be an enjoyable alternative to motorcycles, Stewart said.

Stewart cited numerous reasons for purchasing a scooter, whose small size and ease of handling fit in perfectly in a college town such as Chapel Hill, or smaller city such as Carrboro.

“They’re popular because they take up so little space, and you don’t have to pay for parking,” she said.
Riding a scooter is effectively the same as riding a bike, as a license isn’t necessary as long as the speed is capped at 30 mph (all those sold at Scooters Inc. qualify as such). They also don’t require insurance, Stewart said.