RA Cycles now open in Walnut Creek, CA

[echappist]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

R&A is not like apple at all. One is very profitable and makes a pretty decent product. Apple used to be overpriced but now a days only some stuff is. I am not a fanboy but do have some apple stuff, all has been pretty great.
R&A, I never had a problem with them but I have no idea how they are making money.

They are in the import/export business. Just happens that the goods are bicycles

Apparently a lot of sales to Latin American countries without an authorized supplier. Probably can get close to MSRP on those sales

The sales staff is hit or miss. Have a friend who had a less than pleasant time at the store (salesperson used some rather graphic languages to describe the bike) and ended up driving across the river to Strictly instead.

[Buzz]

Stopped by yesterday. They obviously have spent a lot of time, effort and money designing the space as you can see in the website. Their official grand opening is a few weeks away. The staff are all local guys. Very pleasant and nice to speak with. The cafe looks to be about 90% ready to open soon. Another sharp looking space.

Wow, how “bike shops” and retail spaces / environments have changed.....

[Elefantino]

Originally Posted by Buzz

Stopped by yesterday. They obviously have spent a lot of time, effort and money designing the space as you can see in the website. Their official grand opening is a few weeks away. The staff are all local guys. Very pleasant and nice to speak with. The cafe looks to be about 90% ready to open soon. Another sharp looking space.

Wow, how “bike shops” and retail spaces / environments have changed.....

I'm surprised The Golf Mart that was in that space closed.

It's not ideal for a bike shop (Mt. Diablo Blvd has busy traffic and you have to cross it to get in a good test ride on a quiet street) but it sure looks slick.

Worked with Matias for two years at Performance. Good guy, even though he hates Campy.

[prototoast]

I swung by on my way home from my ride this afternoon. My first thought was I was impressed at how well-capitalized they were. It's a giant space, stocked with lots of high-end bikes, and they must be paying well enough to hire experienced workers away from other bike shops. They're going to have to sell an awful lot of bikes to keep this place operational.

As others have noted, the location is rather annoying to bike to. It's only a mile off the bike path, but that involves traversing downtown traffic on multi-lane roads with no bike lane. Maybe that doesn't matter for the customer buying a $10,000 bike, but I can't imagine it will be good for sales at the cafe or hosting rides.

The bikes they had stocked are all very, very expensive, but they had nothing particularly exotic. Above Category this is definitely not. All mass-produced bikes, and there was only a single metal bike in the whole shop (pictured below).

I'm not sure I'd ever go back. I'm not sure I'd ever recommend anyone shop there. I'm not sure they'll last more than a year, but maybe I'm wrong and enough people in Walnut Creek will really want a Pinarello without driving the extra 5 miles to Lafayette or Danville.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I swung by on my way home from my ride this afternoon. My first thought was I was impressed at how well-capitalized they were. It's a giant space, stocked with lots of high-end bikes, and they must be paying well enough to hire experienced workers away from other bike shops. They're going to have to sell an awful lot of bikes to keep this place operational.

As others have noted, the location is rather annoying to bike to. It's only a mile off the bike path, but that involves traversing downtown traffic on multi-lane roads with no bike lane. Maybe that doesn't matter for the customer buying a $10,000 bike, but I can't imagine it will be good for sales at the cafe or hosting rides.

The bikes they had stocked are all very, very expensive, but they had nothing particularly exotic. Above Category this is definitely not. All mass-produced bikes, and there was only a single metal bike in the whole shop (pictured below).

I'm not sure I'd ever go back. I'm not sure I'd ever recommend anyone shop there. I'm not sure they'll last more than a year, but maybe I'm wrong and enough people in Walnut Creek will really want a Pinarello without driving the extra 5 miles to Lafayette or Danville.

Looks nice, well focused. From a shop perspective its way easier to sell stock bikes and they net a bit more $ in the end. Far less labor involved. They have a name in the industry and it's not like they opened in Fargo. No offense to Fargo.

[nobuseri]

I am sure they will be around for a while. Definitely catering to the higher end market. They seem to have lasted in NY for a decent while so far and rent there is more than that side of the Caldecott tunnel.

Something tells me that most of the stuff they are selling is not coming out of the showroom.

[Hindmost]

Originally Posted by nobuseri

...They seem to have lasted in NY for a decent while so far and rent there...

The family owned the building and the business next door in New York--a few years back.

[Pegoready]

Perplexing move.

I always thought R&A in NYC worked because:

a) the family owned the building = no rent.

b) R&A is an extension of a bigger family business next door, and possibly just a passion project for the son. It doesn't have to be profitable and might actually be a good money funnel for tax purposes, though that's wild speculation on my part.

c) they pack that store to the gills, giving it the feel of one of those greybox camera stores. There's a lot of efficiency per sq. foot.

d) they got that NYC attitude, which has a certain charm to the right customer

e) most importantly, they are in NYC and can sell to shopping tourists desperate to get a high end bike without paying their country's import taxes

None of that appears to be the case in Walnut Creek- local staff (i.e. laid back CA attitude), they're paying rent in the Bay Area, sparse store, and WC isn't exactly a hub for people coming into the country to shop for luxury goods.

I'll be curious to see what the end game is here.

[peanutgallery]

11k square feet of real estate in Walnut Creek, all those employees they poached, "sponsored" collections of inventory, self warranty, cafe? All I see is overhead, what could possibly go wrong? Admire the bravado to swim against the current bicycle retail climate

The more expensive or niche the bike product, the crappier the profit margin. This'll be interesting to watch, they'll have churn a massive amount of inventory to tread water. Someone is going to have to buy shedloads of stuff. Nice looking store, though

[pbarry]

They’ve been in Brooklyn for three decades at least. Not neophytes at retail, but there’s the pesky portion of overhead, rent, now. Do we know if they bought the building in WC?

[echappist]

Originally Posted by pbarry

They’ve been in Brooklyn for three decades at least. Not neophytes at retail, but there’s the pesky portion of overhead, rent, now. Do we know if they bought the building in WC?

According to city records, the entire lot that contains 105 5th Ave of Brooklyn, NY is owned by Cabbad Family, LLC. Philip Cabbad is the founder of R&A Cycles, and Albert Cabbad is the current CEO.

[ultraman6970]

If you sell bikes and you dont have to pay rent, you can survive anything!!!

[zzy]

They own a lot more than just 105 5th..

[CiclistiCliff]

.

[CiclistiCliff]

Thanks to those that came in and look forward to meeting more of you. Don’t be afraid to say hi, we don’t bite.

Happy to answer questions here or with a cup of coffee at the store.

-Matias