NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- When the price of gas went up, so did business at a local bicycle shop. But now one of New Haven’s largest and oldest bike shops is on a rough ride downward.

Devil’s Gear Bike Shop owner Mathew Feiner said business has become noticeably worse since the stock market began plummeting.

“The economy is going bad,” he said. “People aren’t buying stuff now.”

What's so ironic, he said, is that just a few months ago, even during the tough economy, the biking business was great.

“When the price of gas went up, we were selling bikes left and right,” Feiner said. “People riding bikes, and then the price of gas went down.”

Feiner said business has become so bad that he’s had to lay off half of his eight-person staff and he's closing one of his two stores.

“A lot of people we saw buying a bike at $4 a gallon aren’t riding bikes,” he said. “They are back in their cars.”

He said he's sharing his story, and his sales pitch, to get people back in the door.

“People have to realize this is not going to stop,” he said. “The gas game is going to always happen. They're going to drop the price just to bait people along, just to keep them in their cars.”

Devil's Gear gives safety classes and has even helped changed laws, Feiner said. He said he plans to keep his Chapel Street store open.