.
...different co-ops here have different policies. The one down in SF in SOMA neighborhood had a similar rule when last I was there. Parts bins were only open to people working on a bike in the shop. Sacramento and Davis both sell parts to anyone who shows up looking for them, and there's a kind of higher end resale shop in San Rafael that has no self repair facilities at all, so they strip down a lot of bikes and sell only the parts/components, along with whole bicycles that their staff repairs sometimes, or just get sold as is.
__________________