Nyberg’s Ace adds downtown kayak, bike rentals

June 21, 2019

Downtown residents and visitors can now rent a kayak or a bike at Nyberg’s Ace Hardware.

Nyberg’s Ace added both new rental options this season at the downtown store, which is at First Avenue and 12th Street. The kayaks also are available at the 41st Street and Minnesota Avenue and the 12th and Kiwanis Avenue stores.

“Because of the rain and high water, we didn’t start right away like we normally would,” said Glenn Stanley, who works at the 41st and Minnesota store and developed Ace’s kayak policies.

“It’s not that it’s deep; it was just running so fast, and you can’t see dead trees or things in the water, so it’s more dangerous,” he said. “Game Fish and Parks pretty much says when you shouldn’t be kayaking, and we won’t let the boats out then. It all boils down to safety.”

Customers can rent the boats at any of the three locations but must return them to that location and provide transportation. It’s $35 for three hours of rental plus a $300 refundable deposit. That includes paddles and life jackets.

Each store has about eight or 10 kayaks, and most are new for the season, Stanley said.

Customers “take them on the river and in some cases out to one of the lakes close by, and that really depends on the wind,” he said. “If it gets really windy, a lake isn’t good, but you can still go on the river.”

The bike rentals also got off to a bit of a slow start, but downtown store manager Zane Hoffelt said interest is picking up.

There are three men’s and two women’s bikes available.

“They’re a single-speed cruiser bike, wide handlebars, big seat,” he said. “We do get a fair amount of out-of-town people who use them. The Holiday Inn downtown refers people who are looking for things to do and lets them know we have the bikes. I just had a family of four from out of town vacationing, and they stopped to cruise around the bike trail from here to the falls and back.”

He has had some requests to add kids’ bikes but hasn’t brought them in yet.

“There hasn’t been really high demand, but we’re trying to gauge the interest.”

It’s $15 for four hours of rental plus a $25 refundable deposit and a $5 nonrefundable damage waiver.

Want to stay in the know?

Get our free business news delivered to your inbox.



Nyberg’s Ace adds downtown kayak, bike rentals

Downtown residents and visitors can now rent a kayak or a bike at Nyberg’s Ace Hardware.

News Tip

Have a business news item to share with us?

Scroll to top