Halfords to close Bike Hut and Cycle Republic

artaxerxes
artaxerxes Posts: 612
edited April 2009 in Commuting chat
Saw this in today's Times. Halfords are to shut their 'premium' bike shops. Never been in on myself though.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article6103398.ece

Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    More here from BikeRadar website
  • gtvlusso
    gtvlusso Posts: 5,112
    Lol! Glad to hear they are having issues (not happy for staff that may get made redundant though!) - they are tw@ts to deal with on their C2W scheme too.....
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    they are tw@ts to deal with on their C2W scheme too.....
    For balance - they were great to deal with for me.
  • il_principe
    il_principe Posts: 9,155
    They've missed a trick here. If they'd actually staffed all their stores with properly trained people (including mechanics) they could have done well for themselves, cycling could be a real growth market in a recession...
  • gtvlusso
    gtvlusso Posts: 5,112
    M.Cole wrote:
    they are tw@ts to deal with on their C2W scheme too.....
    For balance - they were great to deal with for me.

    Surprised!

    They have screwed allot of people over where I work - told us we could have certain brands and then could not deliver on the promises, due to *costs*.

    Hence allot of people already had vouchers, checked with the helpline that they could get a certain bike, and could not get what they wanted or had even ordered.

    Right shambles!
  • marchant
    marchant Posts: 362
    Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but the article(s) imply to me they're keeping the branches already within Halfords stores. I haven't got a half-decent bike shop for miles oherwise.
    But the company said they no longer believed that stand-alone cycle stores would "deliver the absolute levels of financial return demanded of Halfords' investments".
  • Wrath Rob
    Wrath Rob Posts: 2,918
    I got by Boardman through the Twickenham Bikehut and they were great to deal with. They also sorted a warranty claim issue for me with no trouble.

    I would expect that the C2W scheme is centrally managed by Halfords and so you'll still have the same issues at their larger, Halfords stores.
    FCN3: Titanium Qoroz.
  • Jay dubbleU
    Jay dubbleU Posts: 3,159
    They were ok when I did C2W - got the Giant for me no problem even though its not a brand they usually deal with - setup was ok as well - been to my LBS once since for minor adjustments - cable stretch etc - maybe it depends where you go
  • mountainroadie
    mountainroadie Posts: 244
    wouldnt normally go to halfords for a bike but they have got the boardmans there .nothing but helpfull knowledgable mechs at my local retail park so much so i bought a boardman comp on the ctw scheme .
  • BenS999
    BenS999 Posts: 202
    Plenty of people talk of bad service from Bikehut, but two (Putney and St Pauls) i have been to (and bought bikes from each) are great. Staff friendly and always helpful. Their C2W scheme was pretty hassle free too. There has to be a reason for the negative reports but i can only say good things about them. :wink:
    2011 Orange Five Pro
    On-One Pompetamine Alfine Comp
  • always_tyred
    always_tyred Posts: 4,965
    My reading of the news was that Halfwits had falling sales generally, with the exception of the bike part of the business. Reading between the lines, I would propose that bringing all bicycle sales back within the general Halfwits stores will help the cycle sales to prop up the rest of the business during the down turn.
  • TRADESIZE
    TRADESIZE Posts: 80
    I was so impressed wit Hal-faruds I put a comment on the bikerader news
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  • artaxerxes
    artaxerxes Posts: 612
    I was wondering why they decided to call one of their brands Cycle Republic, were they trying to tap into the reputation of Edinburgh Cycle Co-op? Did they take us for complete fools?
  • DonDaddyD
    DonDaddyD Posts: 12,689
    Only thing I buy from Halfords is the magic tree airfreshener for my car....
    Food Chain number = 4

    A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
  • downwardslide
    downwardslide Posts: 73
    Seems a shame for the staff. I got my c2w bike through Cycle republic in york. They were helpfull, knowledgable and friendly and the mechanic did a good job of putting the bike together.

    The problem is that the 'premium' market they are targetting are never likely to buy through them when they are associated with Halfords (unless they have to becuase of c2w)
  • DomPro
    DomPro Posts: 321
    This sucks. My local Bikehut in Dorking are the best LBS around. :(
    Shazam !!
  • coffeecup
    coffeecup Posts: 128
    I thought the C2W scheme staff at their call centre were great. I got both my Bianchi C2C and my Dahon on their scheme.

    Wouldn't take either bike back to the local halfords shop for maintenance though.....
    Time you've enjoyed wasting, hasn't been wasted

    Bianchi L'Una, Bianchi 928 C2C 105, Dahon MU SL

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