Sopo bike co-op needs new home, asks for your donations

The lease is up and so is the rent. The Sopo Bicycle Co-op, the East Atlanta nonprofit which has provided Atlantans with cheap-as-dirt bike repairs since 2006, has to move.

"Although we have had the luxury of low rent since our founding, we anticipate increased costs with a new space, thus we are writing to ask your support for our first ever SOPO RENT FUND," the volunteer-run bike repair shop says in an email and blog post. Concluding the news release is a link for paypal donations.

"We are needing to move because the space we have is being renovated, and is intended to be used as a larger retail or commercial restaurant," says Tito Sands, a Sopo board member.

For the past five years, Sopo has operated out of a cramped shop space in the back of the Blue Frog Cantina. With the end of Sopo's five-year-lease, some EAV restaurants are looking to expand.

"It's not a bad thing, not a negative," Sands says. "We understand the situation they're dealing with in terms of making the most out of their space."

In fact, Sopo wants to use the opportunity to upgrade.