What would you put in a bike showroom?

[gdw]

150sq ft isn't enough space for a showroom, dispatch office, and small sewing operation. It would be barely adequate for a small standalone bag manufacturing business which will require space for a couple industrial sewing machines, a cutting table, and storage for fabric and supplies.

[Toeclips]

A bicycle/hookah speak easy....I would go

[tuscanyswe]

Originally Posted by gdw

150sq ft isn't enough space for a showroom, dispatch office, and small sewing operation. It would be barely adequate for a small standalone bag manufacturing business which will require space for a couple industrial sewing machines, a cutting table, and storage for fabric and supplies.

Yes you may be right. despatch office is more or less a laptop and a headset but point taken. A sewing operation is not something i know a lot of so could very well be it needs far more space than available.

[Dino Suegiù]

Originally Posted by tuscanyswe

Im thinking of opening up a showroom-ish type of thingy.

What would u do?

1: One note on your size listed above: you wrote “50 m2 or 150 square feets”. Those are very different.
50 m2 = 540 sf, whereas 150 sf = 14 m2.


I would not think you have a “showroom” at all, certainly not in 14 m2/150 sf. You are a private courier company, and your space probably needs to be completely dedicated to that business. The less public inside the better, especially these days.

But, hopefully you have a nice street-facing “store window”, which could hold, depending on the size:
1) A well-designed “Joyride” sign with contact info clear.

2) One of those inexpensive large flat tv screens for looping video. You, your riders, and even your other courier associates/friends around the world could film and loop “GoPro” videos of couriers riding in various cities, a global “travelogue” of courier rides; that could be great. Moving images appeal. 1) and 2) could be combined in a larger screen, especially if running 24/7.

3) Display (“For Sale”) the messenger bags/etc. The maker need not make the bags in-house at all. You just display the window models, sell the bags off an in-store shelf, and you charge the maker a percentage for displaying/advertising their bags in your window.

4) If you have window space left over, maybe some beautiful iconic bicycle bits you have/are not using.

5) A bicycle maintenance area, even a coffee “bar”/etc, seem not really useful, too crowded, too hectic, require oversight/stocking, and/or too expensive. Just offer your clients a free cup of coffee and be done with that.

[tuscanyswe]

Thanks so far for the input and ideas. Really usefull!

And yeah my head just does not work right outside the metric system it seems. The location we are looking at is around 540 square feet and not 150. Its 52 m2.

Cheers

[mtechnica]

Coffee, better yet a good americano or doppio. Snacks.

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by Toeclips

A bicycle/hookah speak easy....I would go

Sounds like a friends house when you’re a messenger... oh those were the days.

[one60]

One thing I have noticed with bike shops is that unless inventory changes on a regular basis, there's not a compelling reason to visit and spend $$.

By creating a pop-up style shop within the courier business, one could highlight certain brands and items for a limited time. This could include framebuilders and boutique brands like Spurcycle, Wolftooth, custom shoes etc who would benefit from the exposure while saving on inventory? If a certain item sells like hotcakes you could make it a permanent edition to shop later??

Would it be possible to have the repair stand outside in good weather? Then you have the potential for a cafe-like menu of only simple repairs (replace tires, brake pads, new bar tape etc).

Also, Absolutely must provide bike locks (maybe also an stocked item) so folks can stay?

As others suggested, use social media to build interest in visiting. Will you courier only documents? There may be an opportunity to partner with area merchants to offer delivery service of certain items? That side hustle could help during slow times or during weekends?? I am always amazed at what people will pay to have delivered. The other day a neighbor had bubble tea delivered to his flat!

Good luck!

[weisan]

. What would you put in a bike showroom?

This probably don't apply in your situation but I have often asked myself this question, if I have a front receiving room at my house, which bike in my collection would I put on display that i would like to be the first thing that any incoming guests would see?

I think, for now, it's a toss up between this cute little pony...



Or the iconic representative of a golden era passed...

[tuscanyswe]

Yeah pop up vibe store sounds good and i agree that i think becoming to stagnant is not really a great thing. Worry abit about this as we also have a courier biz to run and manage. At least we can offer fast deliveries down town of what ever we decide to sell .)


Yep i will have to continue to build new bikes for myself and put in the window .) That celeste thingy looks really cool..
I was thinking of having a "high end used bikes" for sales thingy but that also takes massive amount of time if im going to build and tinker myself with all of them + used bikes when you ad in vat etc may not be such a lucrative biz. But for display those bikes are nice, they just take up so much of my life all rdy ha. I guess i can let other ppl hang their bikes in the store perhaps and charge a % of potential sales. But i would need to be selective. Also i have done used bikes to death allrdy and could likely get more money from them when doing privately but yeah they might be good for spicing things up in the store.

[Gpmrntz]

Rollers

Help you warm up, cool down. Many are afraid of them...this is a great way to learn / advocate and sell them. They are far superior than traditional fixed wheel trainers (I've not used any of the newer stuff, because I swear by my rollers going on 10+ years).

[tuscanyswe]

Originally Posted by Gpmrntz

Rollers

Help you warm up, cool down. Many are afraid of them...this is a great way to learn / advocate and sell them. They are far superior than traditional fixed wheel trainers (I've not used any of the newer stuff, because I swear by my rollers going on 10+ years).

Thats not a bad idea but that would more or less mean catering to those who are more serious about cycling vs having a bike and riding it. The shop may be to small and to modest in inventory to cater to this crowd perhaps.

[Ken Robb]

To help folks visualize the space available for this project a typical USA two-car garage is 450-500 square feet so now I can imagine a double repair stand fitting in.

[one60]

How about an approach that strikes a balance between craiglist/ebay and consignment? Offer a short term, exclusive selling spot for high-end used bikes in your shop window? Call it 'Bike of the Month' and use social media to advertise it? Provides two useful services...seller gets views without needing to meet each interested party and potential buyers saved similar hassle. Would be managed as a private sale with a minimum cost or % of sale as you suggested, so shop has no liability or sales hassles?

[Toeclips]

Originally Posted by mtechnica

Sounds like a friends house when you’re a messenger... oh those were the days.

I was a DC messenger for every bit of 12 years, Quick messenger service and Metro

I would call my messenger lounge "Coppi's"