My LBS closed today

[PeteXXX]

My LBS closed today.
The Bike Shed, Northampton, has gone
They tried to sell it, to no avail. One potential buyer, but, apparently, a derisory offer.

Liz and Roger are retiring to ride bikes and play golf.

Good luck to them and I wish them well, but it’s a great shame.
Lovely people.
Roger did the talking, Liz did the fixing

 

[Drago]

Where in the town was that one Pete?

 

[PeteXXX]

Where in the town was that one Pete?

Kings Heath.

 

[Drago]

Ah, that'll be why I didn't know it.

 

[gbb]

I can' say the same applies in their case but i do wonder if traditional LBS are coming under pressure from what I call boutique bike shops, modern, clean, antiseptic, everything perfectly laid out, no character shops that are invariably expensive with staff all immaculately kitted out...homogenous..and yet seem very busy when you look in the carparks at weekends. They're the exact opposite of what I'm looking for.

 

[screenman]

I can' say the same applies in their case but i do wonder if traditional LBS are coming under pressure from what I call boutique bike shops, modern, clean, antiseptic, everything perfectly laid out, no character shops that are invariably expensive with staff all immaculately kitted out...homogenous..and yet seem very busy when you look in the carparks at weekends. They're the exact opposite of what I'm looking for.

Start your own.

 

[PeteXXX]

The Bike Shed was ‘old school’!
Definitely not Boutique

I think my CX was their final last ever repair... Fitted me a new Freehub, for nothing. Gratis.

 

[Drago]

Probably not a lot of laying customers up on the Heath. A fairly deprived area.

 

[ColinJ]

I can' say the same applies in their case but i do wonder if traditional LBS are coming under pressure from what I call boutique bike shops, modern, clean, antiseptic, everything perfectly laid out, no character shops that are invariably expensive with staff all immaculately kitted out...homogenous..and yet seem very busy when you look in the carparks at weekends. They're the exact opposite of what I'm looking for.

I have seen several of those open and then close again in only a couple of years so I am not sure that they are doing much better.

The big sales competition is coming from Chain Reaction Cycles/Wiggle/Evans/Decathlon ... It is hard for shops to compete with them, and can they survive on servicing alone?

I can see the future being online for sales, and Bicycle Repair (Wo)Man turning up at your house in a van to fix your bike.

 

[midlife]

Probably not a lot of laying customers up on the Heath. A fairly deprived area.

Paying

 

[screenman]

I have seen several of those open and then close again in only a couple of years so I am not sure that they are doing much better.

The big sales competition is coming from Chain Reaction Cycles/Wiggle/Evans/Decathlon ... It is hard for shops to compete with them, and can they survive on servicing alone?

I can see the future being online for sales, and Bicycle Repair (Wo)Man turning up at your house in a van to fix your bike.

Have you been to the Giant store near Lincoln. I would say running side by side with another business helps with overheads.

 

[Tin Pot]

I have seen several of those open and then close again in only a couple of years so I am not sure that they are doing much better.

The big sales competition is coming from Chain Reaction Cycles/Wiggle/Evans/Decathlon ... It is hard for shops to compete with them, and can they survive on servicing alone?

I can see the future being online for sales, and Bicycle Repair (Wo)Man turning up at your house in a van to fix your bike.

Selling objects in shops has been dead for years, sell your service and skills or don’t sell anything at all.

 

[PeteXXX]

Probably not a lot of laying customers up on the Heath. A fairly deprived area.

Indeed, but better than it was.
However, when I visited, there were always other customers around. They are the kind of people that went out of their way to help.

 

[ColinJ]

Selling objects in shops has been dead for years, sell your service and skills or don’t sell anything at all.

I do nearly all of my shopping online, so from my point of view (and a lot of other people's too) that is true but I also know quite a few people who do NOT use the Internet and who ONLY buy from shops. (I don't understand it, but there you go.)

Have you been to the Giant store near Lincoln. I would say running side by side with another business helps with overheads.

No - I have never been over to your neck of the woods. The nearest I've got was Scunthorpe, on the Humber Bridge rides.

Sharing overheads makes sense.

 

[screenman]

I do nearly all of my shopping online, so from my point of view (and a lot of other people's too) that is true but I also know quite a few people who do NOT use the Internet and who ONLY buy from shops. (I don't understand it, but there you go.)


No - I have never been over to your neck of the woods. The nearest I've got was Scunthorpe, on the Humber Bridge rides.

Sharing overheads makes sense.

They have a large coffee shop/cafe thing that brings in the punters.