Nytro Goes Trek

[JedB]

Originally Posted by PacNW2Ford

Yup, was owned by the same guy who owned The Bike Gallery in Portland, which also just sold to Trek.

I was going to say the same thing.

[BRad704]

Boutique shops have to have people paying boutique prices or they won't be around long.

Our biggest LBS was bought by Trek last year and as a customer, it's been GREAT! Not exagerating.

Previously there were rarely bikes in stock to look at, never any good small parts to run in an grab in a pinch, and the whole vibe was very "Yeah we'll have to order that and we'll call you in 3 weeks when it arrives". Now, it's 90% all the same employees that I had gotten to know already, but they have actual brand new bikes coming in all the time and a much nicer overall feeling in the store.

I think my point is, don't forget that the people working in the shops won't likely change too much... so you're still supporting your friends the mechanics and sales people, even if the bikes are coming from a big brand.

[fiamme red]

Originally Posted by PacNW2Ford

Yup, was owned by the same guy who owned The Bike Gallery in Portland, which also just sold to Trek.

https://bikeportland.org/2021/03/16/...-stores-328719

[bsullivan94]

Interesting, it's a shame the LBS model is in trouble. There is only 1 in my small hometown, and it has changed hands more times than I can count. But still the best place to hangout and talk shop!

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by bsullivan94

Interesting, it's a shame the LBS model is in trouble. There is only 1 in my small hometown, and it has changed hands more times than I can count. But still the best place to hangout and talk shop!

Maybe they should charge admission to help cover their overhead?

[RoosterCogset]

Originally Posted by charliedid

Why is it crap?

I think the intent of the message is not that the product is crap, but that the store model that there's only one brand to choose from, is crap. Would you like to go to a eg. an audio/AV store, and the only brand they sell is Sony? It's fine for situations where you know what you want, but forget about comparison evaluations.

[pcb]

I think the LBS as a business model/institution has been in trouble for quite a while. The number of LBS has been declining for a lot of years now. Even before/without covid.

Covid did two things, I think. The first is that the covid fitness boom helped a lot of shops sell off a very large % of their inventory. Then it also cut deeply into their ability to resupply bikes.

So you came close to selling out your entire inventory, hopefully paid off some bills/loans. Then you see that some of your lines are already sold out through 2021. Hopefully covid keeps receding, folks get vaccinated, the fitness buzz stays, but you're going to have a very hard time getting product.

Not hard to understand some owners, especially older ones maybe seeing an offramp to retirement, remembering their Trek/Spec'l/etc rep asking in the past whether they had any interest in selling/converting.

My crystal ball's pretty hazy and distorted, but I wouldn't be surprised if we say a lot more shops either closing entirely or selling/converting to a one-brand store.

Originally Posted by bsullivan94

Interesting, it's a shame the LBS model is in trouble. There is only 1 in my small hometown, and it has changed hands more times than I can count. But still the best place to hangout and talk shop!

[whateveronfire]

My LBS just sold to Trek as well. I know they made a ton of money since COVID hit and were successful before that. They had gone to pretty exclusively Trek over the last few years. While I bought three treks from them (two of which I still have), I’ve not been in since they sold.

I miss browsing bike shops and have no interest in browsing a single product range store.