Grace Kennedy and Tom Kennedy, co-owners of Pedego Electric Bikes Lake Norman

Oct. 8. Tom Kennedy and Grace Kennedy, co-owners of Pedego Electric Bikes Lake Norman in Antiquity, have opened a genuine mom-and-pop business in Antiquity in Cornelius. Their two children lend a hand as well, but the husband-wife duo is all-in when it comes to entrepreneurship in the fast-growing world of e-bikes.

They rent and sell Pedego brand e-bikes only from 1,300 square feet of space that includes retail and service space. Business is rolling along. We asked them a few questions:

There are currently 50 e-bikes for sale

Is this your first time operating a business?

Tom has 25 years of experience in various sales positions and Grace has 13 years of marketing experience and created a freelance writing business five years ago. This is our first experience as retail small business owners.

Your day job(s)?

This is our full-time day job. We are a true mom and pop small business, and we include our children, ages 9 and 11, in our family business as much as possible.

How many e-bikes for sale at a given time? How many for rent?

We rent five bikes, all representative of the models that we sell in our showroom, so people can become familiar with the nuances of each model and determine which one they love the best! We currently have nearly 50 e-bikes for sale and we sell eight different models, including mountain bikes, the popular Trike and the foldable Latch.

Do you sell/rent any non-electric bikes?

We are strictly electric, and the only type of e-bikes we sell are Pedego, because of their quality and industry-leading warranty programs.

Pedego also has bikes for rent

Biggest challenge

For us, the biggest challenge is the fact that many people have never ridden an e-bike, but we look at this as an opportunity, rather than a challenge. We absolutely love educating people about e-bikes and letting them test ride several different models.

Grand opening: Saturday, Oct. 9 at 1 pm

Address: 19911 Zion Ave Suite D3

Website: www.PedegoLKN.com

According to Mordor Intelligence, an investment advisory firm, the e-bike market was valued at $23.89 billion in 2020 and is expected to double by 2026.