Where will I get my turmeric tonic? That’s the sad question I had to ask as I picked up my latte this a.m. at The Meteor bike shop and coffee bistro at the corner of Markham and Kavanaugh streets. The Meteor, opened in 2017 by Intelligentsia coffee founder Doug Zell and cyclist/lawyer Chris St. Peter, is leaving Little Rock, now that Zell et al.’s Allied Cycle Works is upping spokes for Rogers. Already, the kitchen is gone; no more scones or chocolate chip cookies.
You can still get a coffee at the Meteor, but not for long. The shop will close Dec. 1, my barista told me this morning. Its closing won’t leave Little Rock without a bike shop, but suggests that the magnetism of the cycling aficionados Stueart and Tom Walton and the Northwest Arkansas biking culture is more than Little Rock can compete against.