By Patricia Guthrie

Special to the News-Times

Trevor Stevens and Katie Oakes Stevens are both passionate about preservation.

The married couple opened two Coupeville stores just steps away from one another dedicated to the philosophy of sustainability, whether it be berries, beans or bicycles.

Trevor Stevens realized his long-time dream of opening a bike shop this month after years of repairing bikes at home and picking up and delivering them to customers’ residences.

Called Celerity Cycles at 107 South Main Street, the store is bursting with used adult and children’s bikes that Stevens has meticulously rebuilt and are ready to roll out the door.

Last fall, his wife Katie Oakes Stevens opened Whidbey Provisions, 105 South Main Street, a deli and small market stocked with non-processed packaged fresh and frozen foods, wine and non-alcoholic beverages, and dips, salads, sauces and soups made in house.

Come lunchtime, hefty sandwiches piled high with high-quality meats and cheeses are swooped up by repeat customers looking to grab, go and gobble.

“The idea is to have good local seasonal food that people can get quickly,” Oakes Stevens said. “I purposely opened it on this side of town for the local residents.”

Both businesses are located in Coupe’s Village shopping plaza across from Coupeville Elementary School. The his-and-her South Main Street locations weren’t planned. “It’s totally a coincidence,” Stevens said. “I’d been looking for a space big enough for all my bikes (150, maybe) and it went up for lease months after Katie opened her shop.”

Upcycling in the truest sense

Celerity Cycles is located in the former offices of the Whidbey News-Times and South Whidbey Record where reporters and editors once toiled on deadline. (They now do that in Oak Harbor.)

Renovated road, mountain, beach, hybrid and electric bicycles spill into hallways, closets and out front and back doors. Most are for sale, others dropped off for tune ups and some TLC.

Restoring, repairing and renewing old bikes is the heart of Stevens’ business.

He believes the bike industry has made bicycles another disposable item of American life, one that supposedly needs to be replaced every few years with the latest, greatest parts and ever-increasing price tag.

To keep bikes out of the landfill, he performs a surgery of sorts, stripping brakes, derailleurs, seats, handlebars, any part that can be transplanted and retooled.

Upcycling so to speak.

“Even if there’s one part that can be salvaged, I can figure out how to make it compatible,” he said. “I want a bike to leave my shop in the condition I’d want to ride it in.”

Stevens also repairs, tunes up bikes and performs safety checks. He’s open to trades and donations — to a certain extent. Stevens can’t take in every old bike, he says for fear the colorful store packed with a kaleidoscope of new, shining accessories would fast become a cemetery of rust and crust.

Completely renovated adult bikes cost an average of $500 at Celerity Cycles. Compare that to high-end new carbon fiber models, which range from $750 to $1000 or more, depending on type, number of gears and parts.

“Bringing old bikes back to life and getting people back out there to remember the joy of riding is what I’m all about,” Stevens said.

“I want people to not be stuck in the mindset that a bike has to be new. I want biking to be fun again.”

To get people of all ages and abilities out pedaling, Stevens plans to offer organized rides around Coupeville. They won’t be conventional pre-determined rides but instead emphasis camaraderie over competition.

“It’s called party pace,” he said. “It’s more of a get together to gather, chat for a bit and then ride.”

Stevens has also created accommodations in his shop for DIY repair space. He’ll charge hourly rates that includes tools and stands. He also hopes to offer bike repair workshops, which he’s already done at local libraries.

The word celerity, derived from the Latin word celeritas, means swift.

Stevens called his previous business Celerity Photography when he aimed his lens at cars, car dealers and car manufacturers for a dozen years.

“Celerity means speed and motion,” he said. “It just happened to work for both cycles and cameras.”

Stocking up on ‘good stuff’

At Whidbey Provisions, Katie Oakes Stevens strives to deliver fresh, flavorful food with quick convenient service. Customers can be in and out the door in minutes picking up pre-orders or sit and enjoy a wide selection of sandwiches, salads, pastries, cookies, coffee or tea in a quiet space where Penn Cove Brewery tanks once burped and brewed. (Although the company closed all its locations last year, the Coupeville taproom located next door to Whidbey Provisions has reopened under the name Whidbey Tides & Taps, managed by Mitch and Tami Aparicio.)

Oakes Stevens has an extensive background in the food and hospitality industry, working in restaurants, hotels and fisheries around Oregon and Washington.

One glance at the sandwich menu reveals her knowledge of flavor combinations and ingredient ingenuity. Coppa & salami muffuletta — Cajun coppa tasso ham and salami with smoked provolone, housemade olive and pickle veg relish, roasted red peppers on fresh baked ciabatta. A vegan choice called Philly mushroom and cheese contains marinated shiitake mushrooms, house pickled peppers and fennel, vegan gruyere on a Little Red Hen demi baguette.

Salad selections include the vegan and gluten free curried chickpea and cauliflower salad tossed with tandoori masala, dragon carrots, dried cranberries and cilantro chutney.

For dessert? There’s bread pudding baked in a creamy custard with seasonal fruit and sweet rum glaze or vegan chocolate panna cotta with cherry and pomegranate preserves.

She also stocks the popular scrumptious scones from Jupiter Coffee in Freeland.

One recent afternoon, frequent customer Devin Hurley of Coupeville stopped in with his 6-year-old daughter, Savannah. While she checked out the selection of freshly-baked cookies, he grabbed a bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling tea and ordered two of his favorite fresh items.

“The dolmatas (stuffed grape leaves) are so good and the dilled potato salad, which is vegan, is phenomenal,” he said. “We know. We come in at least twice a week.”

Checking out the rows and rows of pasta, hot sauces, spices, condiments, beans, jams, flour, oil and vinegar, first-time customer Suzan Georges of Coupeville seemed shocked at the selection.

“It’s about damn time there’s some healthy stuff in this town,” she said. “I’m so excited this has opened. I could go crazy in here.”

Stocked with some 400 food items, mostly sourced from around the Pacific Northwest, it’s what’s not in the ingredients that many customers want. No sugars, no seed oils, no soy, no gluten, no artificial coloring, no dairy, no preservatives. In as little packaging as possible, please.

Or they’re looking for particular probiotics, fermented foods, rare spices, pure vanilla and the purest EVO — extra virgin olive oil.

Oakes Stevens says she prides herself on being able to find memorable, tasty treats that people have sampled elsewhere.

“It’s a fun scavenger hunt,” she said. “I had one customer looking for a fermented brown mustard he had once and loved but couldn’t remember much about it.”

Pulling out a jar from her refrigerated food section, Oakes Stevens proudly shows off her detective work. “It took a while but I found it,” she laughs. “OlyKraut out of Olympia — Fermented Spicy Brown Mustard.”

She also likes to point out that while her husband Trevor has become known for preserving bicycles, she was the family’s first preservationist.

Of foods that is.

Oakes Stevens is certified as a Master Food Preserver. She’s been stewing, canning, pickling, dining in brine for years.

“You can pickle just about anything,” she said. “I think pickled fig is my favorite thing on the face of the planet.”

Whidbey Provisions also offers catering for work, home and events. Every Monday, market goods are reduced by 10%. Menu items change based on seasonal availability from local farms and regional food producers.

Whidbey Provisions is closed Tuesday and Wednesday, Celerity Cycles is closed Monday and Tuesday. Hours of both businesses are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. One difference — Trevor Stevens closes his bike shop every afternoon from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch. You can probably guess where he goes.

Sometimes customers request a certain product they once tasted by can’t remember by name. That sends Whidbey Provisions owner Katie Oakes Stevens off on a foodie scavenger hunt. Here she shows off one such quest, a fermented spicy brown mustard made by OlyKraut of Olympia. (Photo by Patricia Guthrie)

Stevens specializes in giving bicycles a second life at his recently-opened store, Celerity Cycles, located in Coupe’s Village. (Photo by Patricia Guthrie)

Stevens specializes in giving bicycles a second life at his recently-opened store, Celerity Cycles, located in Coupe’s Village. (Photo by Patricia Guthrie)

Stevens specializes in giving bicycles a second life at his recently-opened store, Celerity Cycles, located in Coupe’s Village. (Photo by Patricia Guthrie)