CHARITON, Iowa — The old marquee still hangs above Court Avenue in Chariton’s Downtown Square, but people no longer come for movies. Instead, they come for bikes and, more importantly, trikes.

The Connecticut Yankee Pedaller is a bike shop in Chariton, named after a Mark Twain book called A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. In this story, a Connecticut Yankee traveled back in time to the court of King Arthur. He saved the King from execution because he was on a bike instead of a horse, indicating that a bike is a better form of transportation.

The shop is housed in the former Ritz Theater. The building was constructed in 1927, and its theatrical history is still on display.

The owner of the Connecticut Yankee Pedaller moved his bikes into the historic building in 2008, but he keeps a wall filled with photographs of the evolution of the theater, and examples of movies shown.

Despite the bike shop only being in the historic theater for 17 years, it has been a community staple since 1979.

“People say move to Des Moines, move to Kansas City, to Omaha, to the Quad Cities, to Iowa City, because we get people from all over, and it’s like no, I like it here I don’t want to move somewhere else. I like it,” said owner, Dave Hendricks.

Hendricks took over the shop in 1981, and continues to work full-time with his sons. This family business is a destination for thousands of people across the country. According to Hendricks, about 24 percent of business comes from outside of Iowa.

One Arkansas man, Larry Hickman, traveled 515 miles to Chariton just to test ride some trikes.

“This is the most best selection I’ve ever seen,” he said.

The selection includes just about everything, from bikes, to trikes, to recumbents, to tandems, and electric bikes. They also have a roughly $8,000 trike from the Czech Republic.

Hendricks said his goal is to inspire everyone to pedal. They can customize bikes and trikes to meet the needs of the specific rider. Some customers may have experienced a stroke and lost use of one side of their body. For these customers, all of the controls can be placed on the side that allows them to cycle. Further, they can create hand cranks for customers who are paraplegic.

“I was a social worker and so my heart goes out to a lot of folks who aren’t as capable if you say as kind of the average population, so it’s really fun helping people, I can’t do it, yes you can do it,” said Hendricks.

Another unique feature of the shop is that they also repair the gear in front for everyone to see. Denny Phillips of Peru, Iowa came to the Chariton shop from Madison County to repair his trike on his 79th birthday so he can enjoy the day with his family.

“We’re going to go to Pella and ride bikes on my birthday,” said Phillips.

The Connecticut Yankee Pedaller is located at 906 Court Avenue in Chariton, and is open every day except Sundays.