Elbow Beach Cycles in Paget is now in the hands of Scooter Mart.

Dolores Thomas, better known as ‘Mrs T’, handed the baton to Nick Thomson at Scooter Mart at the beginning of July, after decades of cycle rentals.

“To be honest I wanted to ease down a bit,” said Ms Thomas who turned 88 last week. “I already know Nick’s capability. Everyone has good things to say about his business.”

Ms Thomas said she loved her staff and was happy that the cycle shop would be in good hands.

Her husband, Dudley, started running the store in 1945, and Ms Thomas took over when he died in 1984.

Mr Thomson said that all the staff at the shop would remain.

“Elbow Beach Cycles has been an institution in the Bermuda tourism industry for generations, helping visitors explore and experience the island in classic local style, and often seeing those generations return again and again to rent mopeds,” Mr Thomson said. “Mrs T has been well known to go above and beyond when working with visitors and locals alike, a mission we plan to continue championing.”

He said that Ms Thomas was the embodiment of classic Bermudian hospitality.

“She reminds me of everything I love about Bermuda,” he said.

He said that the Elbow Beach Cycles-Scooter Mart team will be introducing new-to-Bermuda and modern product offerings.

“We’re keeping the same old-school, classic Bermudian hospitality vibe that Mrs T has fostered over decades, while simultaneously scaling and modernising the business with state-of-the-art online booking systems, a new website and over 300 brand-new rental vehicles,” he said.

They will be differentiating their offerings by keeping the same lowest price guarantee and adding a whole new line-up of vehicles, including fat-tyre eBicycles and super-premium moped options.

“A lot of our focus is going towards electric vehicles; I love them for Bermuda,” Mr Thomson said. “They’re low-maintenance, emission-free, quiet, and their range is perfect for Bermuda.”

He said that the cycle livery business and Scooter Mart complement each other synergistically.

“At Scooter Mart, for years we’ve been getting many calls every day during summer months from tourists asking about renting and we’ve always had to apologise,” he said. “But now we have the capacity to take this on.”