Keystone Community Services

Keystone’s social enterprise is the Express Bike Shop. By being a customer at the bike shop, you are providing financial support that goes directly back into Keystone’s youth programs.

What is a social enterprise?

Keystone is a member of the Social Enterprise Alliance who defines a social enterprise as “organizations that address a basic unmet need or solve a social problem through a market-drive approach.”

For Keystone, our social enterprises have allowed us to integrate an entrepreneurial spirit into our organization and to offer our community services and programs it needs. In turn, these entrepreneurial ventures generate revenue for our programs and supplement to our other funding sources.

The Express Bike Shop opened in an abandoned gas station in 1995. The shop was created by youth who had participated in programming offered by Youth Express and who wanted a job, but were having a hard time getting one. The idea came to the teens because St. Paul Police had a large collection of unclaimed bicycles that they thought could be used instead of taking them to the scrap yard. And thus, the Express Bike Shop was created.

Employing youth

The Express Bike Shop is a used bike shop that turns donated bikes and bike parts into working bicycles. Young people work in the shop for 6-month apprenticeships. During this time, youth apprentices are trained in bike mechanic skills. Youth are also trained in the skills of running a small business – marketing, sales, teamwork, etc.

25 Years Old and Still Growing

The shop outgrew its original location, so after a successful capital campaign, Express Bike Shop moved to its current location on Selby Avenue in 2007. Express Bike Shop has collected and refurbished, re-purposed or recycled over 30,000 bicycles. Over 6,000 customers each year choose Express Bike Shop for their bicycle needs. And 500 young people have completed a paid apprenticeship at the shop.

Shop Express Bike 

Before: Donated Bike

During: apprentice Fixes bike

After: Refurbished bike for sale

By being a customer at Keystone’s Express Bike Shop, you are helping youth gain valuable first job experience. Plus you’ll get first-rate customer experience at reasonable prices.

• Buy a new bike or accessory
• Have your bike repaired by talented youth apprentices
• Donate a used bike