was wondering about Trek and Specialized buying out other stores/chains

[eddief]

Is it true that company owned stores sell exclusively bikes from each of those companies? When I consider that our local Mike's Bikes sold out to PON I see Mike's now carrying a wide variety of well-known brands. Can't help thinking a ton of folks will be more attracted to a multi-brand shop than they might be to dedicated Trek or Specialized?

[gutenbergler]

One of our local chains got bought by trek. Per my friend that works there, they will only sell trek bikes. They will sell soft goods and other things from outside brands.


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[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by eddief

Is it true that company owned stores sell exclusively bike from each of those companies? When I consider that our local Mike's Bikes sold out to PON I see Mike's now carrying a wide variety of well-known brands. Can't help thinking a ton of folks will be more attracted to a multi-brand shop than they might be to dedicated Trek or Specialized?

The answer, as it often is, is "it depends"

Two examples:

After Trek bought Goodale's bike shop (a 3 store chain in New Hampshire) they now only sell bikes made by Trek.

After Pon Holdings (which owns several brands including Cannondale, Cervelo and Santa Cruz) bought Mike's Bikes (a major bike store chain in California) they continue to sell non-Pon brands such as Giant, Specialized, BMC and Orbea.

[Elefantino]

Pon is smart. It's biding its time, seeing how the Trek vs. Specialized shopping spree goes. Then I think they'll go all in and blow the other two out of the water.

[eddief]

I have a good relationship with the manager Jeff Stoudt. Nice, smart, good business person. When I asked him about the PON buy out and losing Specialized, he didn't bat an eye. Said we'll have lots of great bikes to sell. And had nothing but praise for the Mike's Bikes founders who continue to run the business day to day (and probably drive nicer cars). I think a minor hole might be the loss of Specialized ebikes but they can fill with Orbea Gain and Cannondale Neo for the time being.

[cabriggs]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

After Trek bought Goodale's bike shop (a 3 store chain in New Hampshire) they now only sell bikes made by Trek.

I was bummed out by that. A couple years ago I went there and was able to compare a Cannondale Synapse, Specialized Roubaix, and a Trek Domane back-to-back-to-back. It was great.

Also, their inventory (and not just bikes) was on their web site.

Sux now.

[rccardr]

Stopped by LBS yesterday and was astounded at the inventory of new bikes for sale. Deep and wide selection.

Looks like their ship came in. So to speak.

[benb]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

The answer, as it often is, is "it depends"

Two examples:

After Trek bought Goodale's bike shop (a 3 store chain in New Hampshire) they now only sell bikes made by Trek.

After Pon Holdings (which owns several brands including Cannondale, Cervelo and Santa Cruz) bought Mike's Bikes (a major bike store chain in California) they continue to sell non-Pon brands such as Giant, Specialized, BMC and Orbea.

Huh.. guess i need to go visit Goodale's to see what it's like now.

I bought my first serious road bike there. I got fitted and ordered my Serotta through them as well. 6 years ago even though I didn't live in NH I went up there to test ride some Specialized bikes. I went on a lot of their shop rides back in the day. Good times.

By the end they were mostly just selling Trek & Specialized. Those first 10 years I was a customer they had Cannondale, Serotta, and a few others too.

I do wonder with these places if Trek or Specialized allows them to sell other brands they don't compete with, like Brompton or something.

I keep wondering if this will happen to Cycleloft.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Elefantino

Pon is smart. It's biding its time, seeing how the Trek vs. Specialized shopping spree goes. Then I think they'll go all in and blow the other two out of the water.

You think?

[unterhausen]

I think the captive stores are pretty boring. But Spesh and Trek have pretty good accessories, so they are adequate to my needs if I moved to somewhere that was the only choice. I imagine that what looks monotonous to me might actually be attractive to a lot of people, especially if the store is big enough to carry the full line of bikes from one of these manufacturers

But I doubt these companies will find out things are better when they own the store. For one thing, they are going to be paying salaries where an IBD might take a hit during slow times. I imagine there are a lot of other hidden costs they aren't really taking into account.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by benb

I keep wondering if this will happen to Cycleloft.

I've wondered about this, too. The owner has a particular interest in folding bikes and recumbents, so they carry brands like Brompton and Lightning, but for their "mainstream" bikes (road bikes, MTBs, hybrids, cruisers, etc.) they've pretty much narrowed down to just Specialized and Trek. Maybe it's just a matter of time before they decide between just one or other of these major brands.

[earlfoss]

I have a friend whose job is to buy out indy shops for Trek, to be turned into Trek Stores. He accomplished his mission and more or less worked himself out of a job as a regional product/sales rep. He's heading back to Waterloo for a desk job.

[josephr]

Originally Posted by earlfoss

I have a friend whose job is to buy out indy shops for Trek, to be turned into Trek Stores. He accomplished his mission and more or less worked himself out of a job as a regional product/sales rep. He's heading back to Waterloo for a desk job.

I totally believe this --- been looking at flat-bar bikes for my daughter and her hubby and strongly looking at the FX 3.0....best overall set of specs/price comparing online. LBS was telling me May/June at earliest even if purchased. Trek shop near where they live was telling me Feb-Mar if purchased. I think the Trek shops get priority in delivery. Honestly, every other bike my LBS has outside of Trek is sorta boutique-ish anyway --- only super bike guys gonna cross shop Orbea and Norco against Trek. They were running 45/45/10 split of Trek/Cannondale/flavor-of-the-week but then REI came to town so they dropped Cannondale. Now its just 80% Trek and 20% flavor-of-the-week.

[Mikej]

I have a close friend who owns a Trek Store. He can sell up to 15% of his inventory or gross in other than Trek / Bontrager brands. If i wanted, I could get a Seven from him, for example.

[batman1425]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

But I doubt these companies will find out things are better when they own the store. For one thing, they are going to be paying salaries where an IBD might take a hit during slow times. I imagine there are a lot of other hidden costs they aren't really taking into account.

Trek has had concept stores in place for 2 decades. They've done the math on brick and mortar operation costs. Brands that do this make up the cost of store (and then some) in no time. They get to sell everything in the store at retail and are "paying" manuf. cost for it. If the shop was even close to breaking even buying at wholesale for their inventory, the brand will do just fine becoming the owners. Better in fact.