Edinburgh Bicycle Manchester

Perhaps if they were only open 4 months they didn't really do their homework properly.

We all use CRC and Wiggle and the like... and we'll all moan when there are no bike shops left.

Guilty as charged, but I rarely buy anything except food from real shops, and even then I do a regular online monthly shop.
I haven't been in an actual bike shop for years, and don't really see the need.
Basic stuff up to shock/fork service I do myself, and expert stuff is going to get sent off to TF Tuned or Mojo by most bike shops anyway.

foy wrote:

One local bike shop owner told me that he buys his stock from chain reaction as it works out cheaper than buying it at trade price. Does not look very good for the future of bricks and mortar bike shops. Ok if you can do your own servicing and repairs but not good if you cannot, as you cannot get a bike repaired or serviced on the internet.

It'll change again in coming years.

You'll see several major brands go for a direct distribution model, cutting out the distributors and allowing the IBD to become more competitive once again on product 'costs'.

The brands want to protect their image/price and I can guarantee you that Shimano, Continental, Garmin and others will ALL be distributing directly within 5 years. It will put off the need for online retailers to buy from bike manufacturers all of this OEM product. Plus, this is another reason that you're seeing the major online retailers also create their own in-house bike bands, as it will guarantee them access to this direct OEM pricing themselves.

One prime example is Castelli. Saddleback (their UK distrib) will sing the song about protecting trade prices in the UK and making sure the physical retailers can compete with online. But come a low period where Saddleback needs some cash or they're sat on a bit too much stock, they'll be right on the phone to Wiggle because they KNOW that Wiggle will just snap it up right away at the right price because they have the cash to do so. The distributors are becoming the problem.

The market will change and we'll see the number of bike shops settle down. But for now, big square footage isn't always the answer. Evans at the Chill Factor generates over £100k per week in revenue, stores like that just magically work as destination stores and they should remain as the big ones. Nobody is going to drive to Oxford Road in Mcr to EBC to visit their vast range anymore. You'll see more and more 'workshop focussed' bike shops.

JSCL wrote:

foy wrote:

One local bike shop owner told me that he buys his stock from chain reaction as it works out cheaper than buying it at trade price. Does not look very good for the future of bricks and mortar bike shops. Ok if you can do your own servicing and repairs but not good if you cannot, as you cannot get a bike repaired or serviced on the internet.

It'll change again in coming years.

You'll see several major brands go for a direct distribution model, cutting out the distributors and allowing the IBD to become more competitive once again on product 'costs'.

One large (one of the big two) components manufacturers is rumoured to be going direct as soon as next year.

Also, most of the distributers claim to be slapping the big discounters on the wrists and cutting off their supply, but it mostly seems to be nothing but lip-service. Hopefully this wiggle-CRC merger will do the bricks and mortar shops a favour as they'll no longer be in competition. On the other hand, maybe they'll flog stuff for even less as they have even more buying power and well and truly put the last nail in the coffin? Good times, hey?