Evan's Cycles in trouble - ?

[fossyant]

There is a shortage of tradespeople across the board. Garages are crying out for skilled mechanics, electricians, plumbers and anyone in the building trade can think of a number and double it when it comes to pricing a job.

And all down to this wonderful idea someone had to send as many school levers as possible of to "Uni" to learn such vital skills like paperclip arranging and sharpening pencils that the nation was crying out for.

Nah, they all want to be 'influencers' these days.

 

[Jenkins]

I stopped using the nearest one to me when Ashley withdrew the very useful local stock checker facility on the website. They twice also tried to negotiate lower rental for the store with the owner - it only worked once and it is now a McDonalds

 

[Fastpedaller]

Strangely enough, I saw a nice FW Evans chained up outside our local Lidl yesterday.

 

[Paulus]

There is a shortage of tradespeople across the board. Garages are crying out for skilled mechanics, electricians, plumbers and anyone in the building trade can think of a number and double it when it comes to pricing a job.

And all down to this wonderful idea someone had to send as many school levers as possible of to "Uni" to learn such vital skills like paperclip arranging and sharpening pencils that the nation was crying out for.

Very few people, youngsters in particular want to get their hands dirty.
Keyboard warriors and paper shufflers who want to be Internet heroes.

 

[FrankCrank]

There's an Evans in Reading, and wouldn't be surprised if that fell victim soon. On the rare occasion I enter the store, the overwhelming sense is the dearth of customers, and staff looking like they're in a state of torpor. A few years back we had a Cycle Republic store in the town, and closed after a very short time. I think they've been swallowed up by Halfords?

 

[figbat]

There's an Evans in Reading, and wouldn't be surprised if that fell victim soon. On the rare occasion I enter the store, the overwhelming sense is the dearth of customers, and staff looking like they're in a state of torpor. A few years back we had a Cycle Republic store in the town, and closed after a very short time. I think they've been swallowed up by Halfords?

There is also AW Cycles in Reading (well, Caversham) and Decathlon, plus a couple of bike community hub type places. Evans suffers a little by being just out of the town centre and not readily accessible, with the IDR in the way. I think it does some trade during the summer by being on the King Alfred’s Way route but this wouldn’t sustain them.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

There is an Evans not too far away - St Helens
I have only seen in there a couple of times, but it did seem kinda empty

The LBS does always seem to have work on

although I have noticed that the mechanic seems to work there when he can;t get work doing other things
which makes sense if the pay is very low

I have noticed a couple of other LBS places that have opened up locally
and closed soon after

 

[Psamathe]

I bought 3 bikes from them and plenty of other kit prior to the takeover (And being honest, they weren't that good then, and I had issues ranging from minor to major with each of those bike purchases, clothes and kit purchases were fine), and have intentionally not bought a single item since - same goes for the sadly departed Wiggle and CRC.
I'm guessing I'm not alone in my thought patterns.

Likewise.
Long before Ashley takeover I purchased my bike from them - they had stock of what I was after in different sizes to test and get right.

Since/because of the Ashely take-over I won't use them. Even more so as I dislike "own brands" (only purpose of them is higher profits and masking real manufacturer). And that's despite having a store in my nearest city.

And when I search for something on Google they occasionally appear in the results and they are not cheap.

 

[FrankCrank]

There is also AW Cycles in Reading (well, Caversham) and Decathlon, plus a couple of bike community hub type places. Evans suffers a little by being just out of the town centre and not readily accessible, with the IDR in the way. I think it does some trade during the summer by being on the King Alfred’s Way route but this wouldn’t sustain them.

I go past AW Cycles when on the bus to Henley, and am amazed it still survives. Decathlon are my go-to store for bike bits and bobs, and we have them here in Thailand fortunately, and cheaper than the UK stores. Failing that, I get stuff from AliExpress and similar.

 

[MadMalx]

I worked there from 1985 to 1989. We had people like Richard Ballantine, Bettina Selby, Tom Vernon and Josie Dew as customers. Happy days.

I bought at least one, possibly 2, from there in that period, plus parts & gear.

 

[bonzobanana]

Likewise.
Long before Ashley takeover I purchased my bike from them - they had stock of what I was after in different sizes to test and get right.

Since/because of the Ashely take-over I won't use them. Even more so as I dislike "own brands" (only purpose of them is higher profits and masking real manufacturer). And that's despite having a store in my nearest city.

And when I search for something on Google they occasionally appear in the results and they are not cheap.

You do realise these own brands are no different to Specialized, kona, GT etc. None of these brands have their own factories they buy from factories in Asia who pretty much design, engineer, certify and of course manufacture these bikes especially at lower pricing. Many brands hop from factory to factory to get a better price. I don't see why someone like Halfords or Evans should be criticised because they buy from the same factories but charge far less because their logistics model is much simpler. I've no interest in supporting big US brands that damage our economy with more expensive imports for pretty much the same products available elsewhere for less. Surely tts a good thing that Halfords buy directly from factories and have a huge turnover and small margin and offer far better value.

I have a local Evans store and it also doesn't look that busy but then I visit a lot of cycle shops on my travels and none of them look busy to be honest. There is a retail apocalypse with many stores struggling. Mike Ashley's Frasier group seems to be doing well overall with good sales and profits but not sure about the Evans bit but wasn't their news that they had managed to reduce a 20 million loss for Evans to 3 million loss a year back.

The trouble is we are a bankrupt nation heading for a default on interest payments and heading for a IMF bailout. All retail is suffering as we get poorer and poorer and have less disposable income. It's quite possible there will be a increase in income tax this month in the November budget. We are just a economically mad country spending beyond our means and with a huge trade deficit. We have had 50 years ridiculous choices by our politicians.

 

[katiewlx]

I stopped using the nearest one to me when Ashley withdrew the very useful local stock checker facility on the website. They twice also tried to negotiate lower rental for the store with the owner - it only worked once and it is now a McDonalds

oddly used that one too whilst it was open, before Ashley took them on, only one in Suffolk, needed a specific tyre that only Evans had stock of, I think theyd stopped making it so it was like last bits of stock floating around, was working in Woodbridge, ordered it online, went to pick it up, was great, albeit the place looked completely dead, more staff than customers, so I kind of wasnt surprised it shut in the end.

but now as you say its a McDonalds, to go with the KFC, the Subway and the Greggs, and everyone drives even if they only live across the other side of the road, so its constantly gridlocked.

 

[katiewlx]

There's an Evans in Reading, and wouldn't be surprised if that fell victim soon. On the rare occasion I enter the store, the overwhelming sense is the dearth of customers, and staff looking like they're in a state of torpor. A few years back we had a Cycle Republic store in the town, and closed after a very short time. I think they've been swallowed up by Halfords?

I thought Cycle Republic were always Halfords to begin with, it was just their way of attracting the I wouldnt buy from Halfords type of cyclists, even though I found the level of knowledge in them on a par with a Halfords, like I tried to buy some rim brake blocks for a Halfords bike I had once, on the basis theyd know right at the very least the right ones, and they still managed to sell me something that didnt fit properly. so Im not really sure what their USP actually was.

 

[katiewlx]

You do realise these own brands are no different to Specialized, kona, GT etc. None of these brands have their own factories they buy from factories in Asia who pretty much design, engineer, certify and of course manufacture these bikes especially at lower pricing. Many brands hop from factory to factory to get a better price. I don't see why someone like Halfords or Evans should be criticised because they buy from the same factories but charge far less because their logistics model is much simpler. I've no interest in supporting big US brands that damage our economy with more expensive imports for pretty much the same products available elsewhere for less. Surely tts a good thing that Halfords buy directly from factories and have a huge turnover and small margin and offer far better value.

I have a local Evans store and it also doesn't look that busy but then I visit a lot of cycle shops on my travels and none of them look busy to be honest. There is a retail apocalypse with many stores struggling. Mike Ashley's Frasier group seems to be doing well overall with good sales and profits but not sure about the Evans bit but wasn't their news that they had managed to reduce a 20 million loss for Evans to 3 million loss a year back.

The trouble is we are a bankrupt nation heading for a default on interest payments and heading for a IMF bailout. All retail is suffering as we get poorer and poorer and have less disposable income. It's quite possible there will be a increase in income tax this month in the November budget. We are just a economically mad country spending beyond our means and with a huge trade deficit. We have had 50 years ridiculous choices by our politicians.

I remember Evans biggest problem was they expanded really rapidly during the Olympic cycling boom, and got locked into alot of bad property deals with excessive rents or purchases, that really hit them when the sales returned to normal, whilst interest rates started climbing so servicing their debt got more expensive, and the problem was they couldnt just close stores to solve the problem, as it meant less space selling stuff.

ironically its Ashleys Fraser group who are often blamed as the cause for the escalating rents in retail property market, as they were often prepared to pay regardless of excess cost to get a foothold on the high street for their brands.

 

[bonzobanana]

I remember Evans biggest problem was they expanded really rapidly during the Olympic cycling boom, and got locked into alot of bad property deals with excessive rents or purchases, that really hit them when the sales returned to normal, whilst interest rates started climbing so servicing their debt got more expensive, and the problem was they couldnt just close stores to solve the problem, as it meant less space selling stuff.

ironically its Ashleys Fraser group who are often blamed as the cause for the escalating rents in retail property market, as they were often prepared to pay regardless of excess cost to get a foothold on the high street for their brands.

Mike Ashley is and always was a ruthless negotiater of high street rents for his shops. This is well documented. He benefits from much lower rents than many of his competitors.

Mike Ashley, through his company Frasers Group (formerly Sports Direct), has a long and well-known history of aggressively renegotiating shop rents with landlords. His strategy, which has been ongoing for several years, involves several key tactics:

• Demanding Turnover-Based Rents: Ashley's primary approach is to push landlords to agree to "turnover rents," where a significant portion (up to 15%) of the rent is linked directly to the store's sales performance. This transfers some of the retail risk from the tenant to the landlord.
• Withholding Rent Payments: At times, notably during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, Frasers Group has unilaterally announced it would withhold all rent payments until stores were "fully able to freely trade as a business" and trade reached pre-agreed levels.
• Threatening Store Closures: Ashley has frequently used the threat of closing stores as leverage in negotiations. For example, after buying House of Fraser, he blamed "greedy landlords" for the closure of some stores where rent cuts could not be agreed upon, while keeping others open where new terms were met.
• Seeking Rent-Free Periods: When acquiring struggling businesses like HMV out of administration, he has demanded initial rent-free periods of several months to make the deals viable.
• Acquiring Freehold Properties: Part of his broader strategy involves acquiring freehold properties, which gives him greater control and strengthens his negotiating position with other landlords.

This approach is a core part of Frasers Group's business strategy, aimed at reducing costs and mitigating the risks of long, inflexible leases, which Ashley has argued were a major factor in the decline of the high street.