Scooter shop opens in Tacoma’s Brewery District. ‘It’s two-wheeled, low-powered joy’
Tacoma, and for that matter, Washington state, you have an exclusive Italian scooter dealership now.
South Sound Scooters, 1938 Market St., after a soft launch in March, is celebrating its grand opening Friday and Saturday.
The store is a Vespa and Piaggio dealership and service center. Though gas-powered models are in stock now, store owner Mark Heigen said electric models will be coming soon.
“We have Vespa, which are designed in Italy and built in Italy, and then we have Piaggio, which is the parent company of Vespa,” Helgen said. “Those are designed in Italy and they’re built in Asia in their composite body.”
Helgen said the smallest gas version of the Piaggio starts at $2,399, not counting freight and prep, and can range up to about $10,000. For the electric version, he says the base model “is going to be $2,999 plus freight to get it here from Asia and the prep to get it ready. So you’re probably looking at, you know, another $800-$900 on top of that, but then the longer range electric Piaggio is $4,399. The Vespa is pushing up in that $7,999 range, plus freight and prep.”
Financing options are available at the store. The dealership can purchase previously owned scooters, take trades and offer consignment sales.
Helgen believes being one of only two West Coast exclusive dealers and authorized service centers of the brands has helped with pushing through global supply-chain shortages and stocking his store.
“We have bikes in stock and available now, and we have bikes on their way to us through the summer,” he said. “So we should be, I think, well equipped to handle the demand and in time, better than many others.”
Helgen describes himself as an “enthusiastic and passionate Vespa rider” and thinks scooters will come into their own for Tacoma amid the recent apartment development and the city’s push for transit-oriented development emphasizing fewer vehicle parking spaces.
“The proximity to the growth that’s going on in the Brewery District ... and with the University of Washington doing their urban renewal, and all the apartments and condos that are going up all around us including retail,” Helgen said. “It just seemed like its proximity to the freeways, the bridge and the district down there, just everything fell into place.
“When it comes to parking and storage, they’re just easy and there’s a lot of ways to protect them even if you don’t have a garage.”
Asked what would surprise customers most, he said that scooters “will awaken their inner child.”
“It’s a different experience than a motorcycle. We like to say it’s two-wheeled, low-powered joy.”
Helgen of Edgewood, who has a retail background, also has gotten into podcast production, writing, producing and hosting, “Chasing Ghosts. On Scooters. In Bars,” featuring plenty of Vespa scooter talk, bar reviews and ghost stories.
On Thursday the store was preparing for a “Scooter Shop Soirée” to thank those involved in helping setting up shop.
The site, owned by University of Washington Board of Regents, was the former home of fabrication business FabLab. The renovation and build-out took five months.
“We’re starting with a little thank-you party for all the contractors and suppliers and friends and family and scooter riders, which has sort of gotten bigger and bigger,” he said.
The store is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday. For more information, go to southsoundscooters.com.
