Is this the worst bike shop in the world?

[Globalti]

Here are a couple of pictures I took this morning in an Indian-owned bike shop just opposite my hotel in Fourways, Johannesburg. This is only one of five stores they have but it's mahoosive, with hundreds and hundreds of bikes all lying around in various states of build, some looking quite old and dusty. The stock is just piled up and hung from walls with no attempt at presentation; no order and no clear labelling or pricing. It is also very hot especially upstairs where they keep the road bikes so even if you are interested in buying something you end up just giving up in despair.

Anybody got any candidates for a worse-managed shop?

 

[Lee_M]

i guess its only badly managed if the staff cant find something? otherwise its effective use of space!

 

[Pale Rider]

I've had the 'hot in the upstairs showroom' experience a couple of times.

Might be because I'd just stepped off the bike.

 

[Peteaud]

Looks like a certain shop not to far from me.

Actually, it cant be, it is a lot tidier.

 

[Sandra6]

Ooh 'eck.
Method in their madness?! I dunno.
The re-bike place near here - recycling donated bikes for sale - is a bit like that on a smaller scale. They do sort of present the finished bikes, but the ones waiting to be worked on are in a huge pile in a corner of the workshop.

 

[Fab Foodie]

That's a lot of stock!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Old Ozzie Jackson in Nelson used to be worse than that.

 

[helston90]

Define worst?
A much worst one would be one with no bikes or stock!

 

[Cycleops]

Looks like heaven to me!

 

[CopperCyclist]

Well, it's not a bike shop, but when I used to take part in Jiu Jitsu, the shop where we got most of our equipment was a converted tiny old terraced house. The owner had things literally just piled up inside it - there was no possible way of browsing, and no discernible order to the chaos. Indeed, you could barely walk from the door to the counter at the back, having to turn sideways and sidle through gaps between boxes at times. However, it was almost magical in that when you asked the owner - a small Chinese gentleman using the English name of Phillip - what you wanted, he would quite literally leap into, onto or over the pile, traversing it with the ease of a monkey, vanishing into it and coming out seconds later with the exact item requested. He was never, ever out of stock!

Add to this some of his other little quotes, and I still miss going there now!

On a handwritten sign in the window "Shoplifters get free - good punch"
To one of our over enthusiastic members who enquired about throwing stars "You stupid! Pay five pound for throwing star, you throw, you miss. 10p brick, you throw, you kill!"

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Rummage-tastic!! That looks great place top spend the day .

Most of the ones local to me are far too much space and far too little choice

 

[SpokeyDokey]

It's probably very well managed. Just because it doesn't conform to Euro-tidy doesn't mean it's badly managed.

I've been to many ramshackle looking hotels and restaurants in India and the service was always first class.

 

[Moodyman]

Copper cyclist - Spa Cycles were just like this. I think they've moved to new premises so not sure how they are now.

 

[slowmotion]

I have a terrible weakness for seemingly chaotic shops like that. It's like wandering through a bazaar, rather than visiting a sterile shrine with a few items "tastefully" displayed. I much prefer Lidl to Waitrose as a shopping experience.

 

[snorri]

They do look a bit short in the mudguards department