Taking your bike in a shop due to cr*p cycle parking.

[Oldhippy]

I have started to walk my bike regularly in the bigger stores. I always, well nearly always get approached by a staff member and I politely explain that to their utter lack of adequate cycle parking if they want my custom my bike comes too. I also point out the number of kids buggies, dog buggies, mobility scooters already in the store and ask them to justify where does it say I cannot do this. Always polite but do get some ar*ey security who if they ever had to chase me would probably have a heart attack before they got 30 feet.

 

[Roseland triker]

Lol I went in a supermarket in Penzance. It's rough so thought it would be easier to take my bike in rathe than loose it.

I got to the till and got off started paying before the security caught me up .


Lifetime ban from Tesco thee isn't a hardship

 

[MontyVeda]

The security guys don't have any issues with me taking my bike into my local Tesco. It's an express with narrow aisles so i just park it inside and they keep an eye on it. Occasionally its not one of the regular guards and they'll say i can't bring it in. But i tell them i shop here daily and the other guards let me park it inside, and so far they've all conceded.

It is daft that some have issues with bicycles. There's no logic to it. They're just being jobsworths.

 

[Scotchlovingcylist]

I usually find there's always somewhere to lock the bike up and has never been an issue.
Again have occasionally asked if I can take it in and have never been told no, or have had the security guard say they will keep an eye on it in the entrance way.

I think maybe because its not a common sight in a shop they feel they maybe have to say something or believe it to be against some policy?
Like anything courtesy is key, ask politely and generally a non issue.

 

[Oldhippy]

I did have one di*khead say 'If I let you do it then everyone will want to' on asking if I was one of many he replied no one had ever come in with a bike before. I said if loads people did suddenly ride to the store with the extra takings they could fit quality parking.

 

[Blue Hills]

Only bike I've ever taken into a supermarket was in Italy - a brommie - they kind of chased me through the barriers until I folded it and lost them/they gave up - they can be very anal - I mean who the hell shops by bike is their attitude/mindset.
Have taken brommie into Brit supermarkets in the undertrolley storage area.
Never taken a fullsize bike into a brit supermarket or any other - can usually work round - Aldi quite often has decent bike parking/racks - Lidl virtually never - must get in touch with them.

edit - forgot to mention on the Italian anal - many of their supermarkets are so nervous/anal that any bag taken in has to be sealed in a special plastic sealer thingie - so nervous are they that folk may put stock into their carried -in bags - am somwhat surprised that they don't insert a supermarket branded anal plug into you on entry. It was a bag sealer that chased me into the supermarket.

 

[davidphilips]

Would not take a bike into a shop myself, but only my view, having said that see a guy wheeling a small wheeled bike that folds into a shopping cart looks really good and if i had one then i may use it in a shop.

Dont know what bike the local cyclist uses but think it may be a brompton?

 

[simongt]

There's a Brompton owner on YouTube who flatly refuses to leave his Brommy outside any shop anywhere and takes it inside, using it as a rolling trolley.
Fair enuff I supppose.

 

[BoldonLad]

Only bike I've ever taken into a supermarket was in Italy - a brommie - they kind of chased me through the barriers until I folded it and lost them/they gave up - they can be very anal - I mean who the hell shops by bike is their attitude/mindset.
Have taken brommie into Brit supermarkets in the undertrolley storage area.
Never taken a fullsize bike into a brit supermarket or any other - can usually work round - Aldi quite often has decent bike parking/racks - Lidl virtually never - must get in touch with them.

edit - forgot to mention on the Italian anal - many of their supermarkets are so nervous/anal that any bag taken in has to be sealed in a special plastic sealer thingie - so nervous are they that folk may put stock into their carried -in bags - am somwhat surprised that they don't insert a supermarket branded anal plug into you on entry. It was a bag sealer that chased me into the supermarket.

Never had that extreme of security, but, in France and Italy, have several times been asked by checkout staff to see inside my backpack, before, I started loading my shopping into it (after paying). Also, in one French supermarket, was challenged to turn out the contents of my backpack (eg puncture kit, spare inner tube, etc). Perhaps I have a "criminal" face?

 

[cyberknight]

once asks the corner shop i used for years if i could take my bike in after i got bike from a big ride and the family had fecked off out leaving me hungry , they refused so i have pointedly told them they had lost my custom , that was over a year ago and i would rather go out of my way than to ever go in there again .

 

[Blue Hills]

There's a Brompton owner on YouTube who flatly refuses to leave his Brommy outside any shop anywhere and takes it inside, using it as a rolling trolley.
Fair enuff I supppose.

actually have done that - with the front mounted basket can be very handy,
(I would never leave a brommie in the street under any circumstances)

 

[simongt]

(I would never leave a brommie in the street under any circumstances)

Interesting, as I've been leaving my Brommy locked up in the centre of Norwich almost weekly for about six years without any issues and I've also left it locked up in York on a number of occasions.

 

[Kingfisher101]

I've taken my bike round loads of shops and no one has ever said anything. Sometimes I ask the security guard if they will look after it, if I've forgotten my lock or something. I don't take it round for the sake of it, its when there's nowhere to lock it or as mentioned, no lock.

 

[Blue Hills]

Never had that extreme of security, but, in France and Italy, have several times been asked by checkout staff to see inside my backpack, before, I started loading my shopping into it (after paying). Also, in one French supermarket, was challenged to turn out the contents of my backpack (eg puncture kit, spare inner tube, etc). Perhaps I have a "criminal" face?

I'd be tempted to refuse and see what they try to/do.
The bag sealing is quite common in Italy - I have the idea that it's pretty much a condition of entry - have only ever seen it in big places though.

 

[Oldhippy]

acrually have done that - with the front mounted basket can be very handy,
(I would never leave a brommie in the street under any circumstances)

Likewise with my Koga, cycle parking in the UK is mostly utter sh*te and clearly an after thought for the most part.