Portland's Velo Cult closing store

[fiamme red]

I'm sad that I never got to visit their shop either in San Diego or Portland.

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/reta...l#.W1uVdNJKi70

https://gearjunkie.com/velo-cult-bik...party-portland

[ptourkin]

The second San Diego shop was less than a mile from my house. Sky could be quirky but I met a lot of friends there.

He comments a bit on the the Radavist's article about why he's closing and what he'll be doing in the future.

[pdonk]

Glad I stopped in when I had the chance.

The collection of vintage mtbs was amazing. Could have spent hours looking at them.

[spacemen3]

That’s a bummer. Is he selling off the mountain bikes as well?

[oldpotatoe]

Great big space and a bar with 'zoning' and reg issues with city...too bad..

With this big space we ran into problems with the bar in regards to the city. In the end, the requirements from the city to keep the bar going are too great for a business like ours to take on. We don't own the building, so the expense for upgrades and the change to the layout does not make sense."

Couldn't keep the bar..so closing..seems a little odd to me. More of a 'club house/bar' than bike shop. IMHO

Plus brands=high volume, high turnover type..gets' expensive to build, sell, service...$500-$700 bikes.

Surly, Linus, Marin and Masi

[charliedid]

I was not shocked when I read this on Radavist the other day. That's a pretty narrow focus/demographic in a town full of bike shops.

Bike shops that are clubhouses have a hard time making $ IMO

Talking about bikes is free.

[bobdenver1961]

They probably made more money from the bar operation than they did for the rest of the shop.

[buddybikes]

...stinks, looked like fun business models that zoning rules destroyed what was (or could have been????) a city icon. Something could of been worked out

[Ken Robb]

I visited both of the San Diego locations. I didn't buy much from them because by the time Sky opened the second location I already owned most of the kind of stuff he sold due to my long-time appreciation and patronage of Rivendell. I brought a few new/re-entry riders to Velo Cult and it was always a fun place to visit and bring newbies who were put off by other shops' race bikes and lycra vibe.
I was sorry that Sky moved to Portland and I wonder if he would have been better-off trying to expand his foothold in San Diego rather than starting all over in a new town.