Union’s website is also one of our favorite online stores to browse. Their product descriptions are always thorough and helpful, and their journal offers up regular insights.
So we pitched a bunch of questions at Chris about his store, what Union Garage stands for, and why we should visit.

Tell us a little about your building. It opened as a marionette theater, around 1910! It was later a dentist office, an auto garage, a marble tile cutting shop, and a commercial print shop.
The store is now a beautiful, raw industrial brick space. It?s tucked into a mixed-use commercial and residential neighborhood a half-block from New York Harbor. There?s a commercial container port at the end of the street, and every once in a while we?ll see the Queen Mary II or some other cruise ship sail by.
What are your customers like" We get grizzled old guys who?ve been riding since before I was born (1980). We see younger riders coming in, who have just moved out of their parents? house, and have recently bought their first bike. And we see lots in between.
This is a great place to be a fly on the wall, because we get some really interesting people walking through the door. I?ve made many friends and heard lots of great stories.
We?ve had opera singers from Mexico City, fourth-generation violin bow makers, chefs, celebrities, celebrity chefs, rock stars, workaday Cambodian dancehall singers (seriously), and loads of creative types. It seems every fourth customer is a photograph...