Is the retail bike industry in your area cut throat?

[Veloo]

I've heard stories relatively recently about how the shops here in Toronto can be rather cut throat.

Shops trying to be exclusive dealers of a brand and thus blocking other shops from carrying those brands.

Even heard about one shop trying to sabotage another shop's spinning event.

Not like the 80's and 90's when I heard about shops calling each other up to trade bikes to satisfy a customer.

Any other cities seeing/ hearing this kinda stuff?

[Cicli]

Mine are just closing.

[Tickdoc]

Not around here. Last build I had the shop help they swapped parts from one shop to the other and then had another shop do the thread chasing/facing. They all ride together from time to time and are friendly with each other, for the most part. They are good at knowing who stocks what, or where your better chance at finding such and such doodad is.

Brand specificity has always existed here. There are some crossovers, but for the most part there is the giro store, the spec store(s), the trek store, the kona/salsa store, the cannondale store, etc.

[buddybikes]

Driven by the 2 "owners" of the market (Trek/Specialized) then the second tier wana bees.

[ultraman6970]

Veloo... to me. the industry is the one that killed the stores. THe big 3 to be more specific.

Stores are forced to follow the modus operandis of whatever brand the shop choose to carry and that pretty much IMO killed the thing.

Now shops are inside of the corporate circus and that changed the dynamic of how one LBS will interact with the next door one, because now if you dont sell you arent going to complete the quote and then the brand will drop you and you are pretty much f-ed, because if you fail with one brand the other ones wont get you and then what you will put in the floor... walmart stuff??. So doesnt surprise that one store trying to sabotage other store's party you know.

[Cloozoe]

Mine are just boring.

Need a bike? Sure, will that be Trek or cannondale.

Want a frame? Don't sell frames.

Want a helmet?

What size do you take in a Bontrager

[sales guy]

I used to own a shop and my family owned one ages ago. For us in our area, everyone hates everyone. It's horribly cutthroat.

I used to live in Chicago and worked for Kozy's back in the early 90's. Ron started the CABDA organization and the show. I remember when I worked there everyone helped everyone. Even to the point of massive bulk buys to get the best prices. Same kind of help regarding stolen bikes.

When I had a shop, i remember calling up looking for a campy ergo power part and no distributor had it. but a local shop did. and she was happy to sell it to me. for $10 over retail price!!!

Here, it's bad. And it's mainly cause the owners became owners by screwing others over. One shop owner had a contract to buy a shop from someone way back when. He reneged on it and brought the old owner to his new shop and showed it off to him! It was a super cold move. And of course nothing happened to the scumbag owner who bailed on the shop buy. Oh, and he's still in business and doing well. mainly cause he screwed over two other shops and made agreements to buy the stores. entered into contracts and then at the last minute bailed which forced the other shops to go into bankruptcy. he then came in and bought everything for pennies on the dollar.

yeah, it is considered smart business. but it's also crooked business. especially when you have a contract to buy someones store or inventory.

[Pelican]

Mine are just closing.

Cold. But one of the best comments I've read on Paceline.

[Hilltopperny]

My lbs stays open because of the service they provide and they are the only shop within a 25 mile radius. He will order you whatever you want including framesets and goes above and beyond when necessary. I've scouted out others and have been less than impressed with most of them.

[FlashUNC]

Wait, shops are competing for business and using possibly underhanded ways of doing it?

http://maddawggmanifesto.info/pics/britepics/shocked.JPG

[oldpotatoe]

It isn't 'bad' in the republic. BUT the big 3(Trek/Spec-Ed/Giant), do make things uncomfortable for dealers as they put pressure on one to perform, and then threatened then sometimes actually pull-move brands to a different store. BUT I got along well with the 2-3 great big places as well as the smaller places and we helped each other out. As the Campag place, they sent Campag biz to me..I sent fork OVH, some MTB stuff, to them..etc.

But here, bike shops don't go out of biz for lack of biz, they commit suicide..do something dumb. But enough biz to go around.

[Mikej]

I just think its more difficult to pay the bills, so shop owners are really squeezing the lemons. Imagine the overhead -and what it takes to cover it in terms of "this many bikes sold = lights stay on" To be honest, I might even go so far as to say the Big 3 are actually helping the LBS. Imagine if they said they were sending bikes direct from Waterloo and Morgan Hills to save the customer....

[El Chaba]

Of course it's cutthroat...It's an industry with a shrinking market and they are fighting for the scraps...

[adub]

All business is cut-throat.

Actually in my area I'd say the bike retail industry is pretty good. There has been an economic downturn, all the shops are still here, some expanding, and getting good service is still hit and miss.

[JAGI410]

It's weird here. 2 main bike shops and one corporate sporting good/bike store. The shop where I work part time doesn't really care what the others do. The others come and "secret shop" our store monthly. It's frustrating. Each shop has their own specialties/experience and they do just fine catering to their customers that fit in their own little worlds.

[Gummee]

The shop I just left is in a HUGE (as in 6-figures) amount of debt to one of the big 3. They want their $$ so they're more than helpful..

...but... Being 6-figures in debt means ya gotta have every nickel you can lay your hands on just to stay open.

New shop has no debt. Much less pressure to perform

M

[bocobiking]

Mine are just boring.

Need a bike? Sure, will that be Trek or cannondale.

Want a frame? Don't sell frames.

Want a helmet?

What size do you take in a Bontrager

This.

I used to go into bike stores all the time just to enjoy looking at all the stuff, dream about my next bike, and plan my next purchases. Now it's just too boring to do anything but buy some little thing I need.

[oldpotatoe]

This.

I used to go into bike stores all the time just to enjoy looking at all the stuff, dream about my next bike, and plan my next purchases. Now it's just too boring to do anything but buy some little thing I need.

Louisville bikes? Haven't been there for a while but good, one Location, shop. Imho

[Bostic]

I don't know the circumstances of what happened but there used to be a Specialized concept store in Morgan Hill. I used to park in the lot there when riding over to Henry Coe State Park. Last time I stopped by, the place was out of business.

[bikinchris]

Almost no one is growing cycling and they are competing for the customers already around.
If shops promoted cycling, clubs and family riding, the number of riders would grow.

One of our local shops owners screwed over another owner. He has opened a store. Solely for the purpose of making another close.

[dave thompson]

I dunno. In Spokane we're blessed with quite a few very good shops and some great ones. They all seem to get along with each other. I've dealt with most all of them. Some I like better than others, mostly a personality thing but I believe that most are genuinely at least good.

There's been a raft of new shops open our in the last couple of years, mostly independents carrying the 'lesser' brands but making good reputations with their services.

[choke]

I used to go into bike stores all the time just to enjoy looking at all the stuff, dream about my next bike, and plan my next purchases. Now it's just too boring to do anything but buy some little thing I need.That describes me as well. Most shops these days are cookie cutter places.

[bocobiking]

Louisville bikes? Haven't been there for a while but good, one Location, shop. Imho


Louisville Cyclery is a fine independent shop of long standing. I guess it's just that contemporary carbon fiber from the corporates all seems the same to me, and not to my taste. I don't have an interest anymore in keeping up with the constant changes and "improvements" in bike technology. I often can't find the bikes or the parts I want or need in an LBS; most often I shop on eBay.

I know it's more me than the stores. But I do enjoy walking into Vecchio's fairly often and enjoying the Waterfords, the Moots, and the classic bikes on the walls. :)

[oldpotatoe]

Louisville Cyclery is a fine independent shop of long standing. I guess it's just that contemporary carbon fiber from the corporates all seems the same to me, and not to my taste. I don't have an interest anymore in keeping up with the constant changes and "improvements" in bike technology. I often can't find the bikes or the parts I want or need in an LBS; most often I shop on eBay.

I know it's more me than the stores. But I do enjoy walking into Vecchio's fairly often and enjoying the Waterfords, the Moots, and the classic bikes on the walls. :)

Huzzah!!

[zzy]

I've heard stories relatively recently about how the shops here in Toronto can be rather cut throat.

Uh not really. I think you heard that from some whiny TO shop owners/employees. There has been massive growth in Toronto's bike industry to match all the new riders. Growing up there the 90s I was usually the only person riding a bike as a commuter. I even had kindly older ladies pull up to me at lights to lecture me on how it was dangerous. Now there are hoards of cyclists. I think the issue is that many shops are setting up near each other (esp on the west end) which leads to friction. There are some shops that shall remain nameless that aren't actually zoned for commercial occupancy and are operating semi-legally. There is also competition over who carries what brands - Canada is a small market distribution-wise so it's hard to either get exclusives or not get diluted out. However I have never even heard of active maliciousness between shops and I know a good number of shop managers/owners. Not to say there isn't a lot of ****-talking (it is Toronto after all) but anything else would be crossing the line and that would be public info rather quickly.

I do agree that the Big 3 have way, WAY too much say in how bike shops get run. It's kinda like the tail wagging the dog. The way 'territories' are run is rather suspect, and the minimums that get pushed on smaller shops makes it very difficult. Plus sales reps will walk in and try to tell managers how to run their stores based on looking at analytics for like 3 minutes like they are Harvard MBAs. Store layout, service, sales targets, everything. The more bike shops are run in pursuit of numbers and targets, the further the shop gets from what really matters. Especially on the service side of things. ATMO.

[kevinvc]

I honestly have no idea how Portland supports so many independent bike shops. In the central part of the city there are literally dozens of them, most of which are pretty small and don't carry a lot of inventory. There is some niche focus, e.g. (primarily) mountain bikes, commuters, boutique high end etc.

One will close occasionally, but when it happens it seems like two more spring up in its place. I think it's great if they are self-sustaining, but I don't see how it's possible that they are.

We also have some big players, like Performance, REI and Universal Cycles, which seems like it would make it even harder for the little guys to exist. I have close to a dozen shops I can think of off the top of my head that are less than a 10 minute ride from my house, and at least that many close to my office.

Something has to give at some point, right?