Bicycles sold like hotcakes at supermarkets and bike shops after Friday's megaquake shut down train services in the Tokyo metropolitan area, attracting local residents — and people from farther afield — who wanted to cycle home instead of facing the prospect of walking for several hours.
Supermarket chain Aeon Co.'s Shinagawa Seaside outlet in Shinagawa Ward, which sells more bicycles than any other store in Japan, said Saturday it sold 89 bikes in less than three hours the night before, including two pricey electric-powered models. The store usually sells some 200 bikes a week.
"Normally bicycles are lined up in front of our store, but it was the customers who made lines yesterday," store representative Izumi Tsuchiya said Saturday.
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