Should I buy a bike shop?

[sight-pin]

What he said /\

 

[Levo-Lon]

See how the meeting goes...that may make the decision for you..
well wishes are great but bankruptcy is serious

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I would perhaps explore going ahead with a business partner, if you really think you don't have 'business sense'.

But I'm a big believer in going for it.

 

[Fnaar]

These peeps might be useful? (Don't know anything about them, mind)
http://www.thecyclingexperts.co.uk/industry/opening-a-bike-shop/

 

[PhilDawson8270]

What is the name of the store? That will help as financial information will be available online

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

You come across as rather intolerant and narrow in your thinking on the forum, bordering on aggressive at times. Ideal characteristics for a bike shop owner

 

[stephec]

You come across as rather intolerant and narrow in your thinking on the forum, bordering on aggressive at times. Ideal characteristics for a bike shop owner

You've just described the guy who used to run our local Raleigh dealer.

 

[jonny jeez]

I love the idea, its sounds brilliant but I'd have to pass if I were you.

Questions like, Why is the shop selling up?, how long will the trend in riding continue? and what is the future of a fixed position, high fixed cost retail unit in an ever more competitive online world.

As @User13710 says, you could look to change the existing business model and really ramp things up...but all that risk.

Can you not just get an unsecured loan to give it a go, or go into partnership or even a cooperative without risking your retirement

 

[DCLane]

Go and have a look at The Green Jersey in Clitheroe, near-ish you. They seem to have sorted out how to do things locally.

It's a lot of work, if my LBS is anything to go by. Adding a café helps these days. But it appears to be worth it currently. However, you need a long-term plan for when/if the current bike buzz slows.

 

[GM]

As others have said, I think you need a business partner. I'd be quite willing to go into business with you just send me an email...philipgreen@crook.con

Good Luck!

 

[dan_bo]

I'm buggered if I'd open a bike shop myself, especially one with a big staff overhead/relied on shifting bikes in volume. Pretty much all the bike shops i use have switched to bike maintenance shops to stay open with the odd bike as a sideline. Yer bigger bike shops- cooksons, leisure lakes and so forth have ridden the crest of the last 20 years of cycling expansion and have big marketing budgets and experienced hands running the place. As someone said earlier, sales and marketing need to be your strong points.

That said you've always struck me as a focussed, driven kinda feller the couple of times we've met and if anyone could make a good fist of it, I imagine you could. Good luck. I'll drop in.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Tons of useful info here. Thanks for all who've contributed.

Essentially, after realising I am genetically structured to be unable to accept any form of management over me, I've always wanted to be my own boss so when I saw this yesterday, I discovered the owners are retiring and so selling the shop, I became interested. Despite all the warnings on here, for which I thank you all, I am more motivated to make to jump that not and I will know more about things tomorrow as I've got an appointment to view the business with the agents. I'll pass on any info I gather.

As someone who is self employed and has been for quite a long time just dont forget that when you are self employed you wont be working 9 - 5 you will be working all the time and dont expect to make a fortune either if you do thats great but I make enough to live on plus a bit extra which I am happy with but a lot of people wouldn't be happy working the hours I work for that amount. I love being self employed and I love doing what I do for a living but then I live by myself and I dont have a home life & a working life I just have a life and when work comes in I go and do it whenever that maybe within reason. The one thing I am happy about is that I dont have premises I work from home, which means I dont have to generate X amount every month to cover all those costs.

A friend of mine ran a local bike shop, mainly dealing with low to mid range bikes but not high end road bikes, for many years until a few weeks ago and now he has given up the shop and bought a van and is working as a mobile cycle repair man. When I spoke to him recently he said he gave up the shop as a lot of the walk in trade he got was either looking for a bike for next to nothing or just wanting small items like a chain or brake blocks, actually selling bikes is getting difficult because of places like halfords and there isn't much call for servicing cheap bikes because a lot of people will buy a bike ride it a couple of times then it lives in the shed for the next 5 years until it ends up in a skip. How he will do mobile remains to be seen as he has only just started but he has much less overheads now so he wont need to generate anywhere near the income he was having to in order to cover the cost of having premises but one thing he did say about the going mobile is that he doesnt get as many time wasters as when someone calls a mobile service in it is generally because they are serious about getting the job done, he is the second bike shop to go out of business locally in as many years and in the last 6 or so years 4 have gone to the wall in total.

There are a few 'high end' bike shops around here but I get the feeling that the current surge in cycling that is going on wont last forever and they will end up all fighting over the scraps sooner or later.

Anyway whatever you decide good luck with it and I hope you are as happy doing that as I am doing what I do

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Right, this is the situation.

I've never even worked in a shop and have no business sense and one side of me is telling me this is a terrific opportunity while the other side is telling me to be very cautious.

If this is genuinely the case then forget it. Seriously, don't do it.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I recall reading somewhere that the typical self employed person earned a third less than the average wage slave, yet worked a third longer each week.

I'm self employed and work at least a third LESS than the average "wage slave". Maybe that's why i earn a third less than them?

 

[slowmotion]

Don't buy it. Just don't.

Please.