What premium to support LBS?

[mnichols]

Just curious, given that you can buy (almost) everything online, usually cheaper,have it delivered to your house for free, have a better selection, no quibble (free) returns what premium will you pay to support the local bike shop?

I want the LBS to survive but some cheaper things like tyres and tubes can be up to 100% more expensive, and some bigger items like wheels can be a hundred pound or more expensive

Also, given the premium how much business do you put their way?

[meic]

None.

[yostumpy]

unless they pricematch. eg

daughter looking for new Dyson, special one for dust allergens, it was £528 everywhere, even John Lewis, EXCEPT...Go electrical , where it was £279 on line , but linked to a shop, so could be used for price comparison, so she got it for £279 at JL, made them cough a bit, We did the same thing with a Dyson V8 Animal, got it for £329 instead of £470. Support your local , yes if they will play ball. Thing is, my LBS is run by youngsters, and if its not in last years catalogue, then it doesn't exist and never has. pah!

[PH]

None from me either.
Retail is a tough world, not just cycling, the way we buy things has changed and like it or not it isn't going to change back.
Three LBS have closed near me in recent years and I am sorry for the owners* and staff. But also local to me are three new businesses. One specialising in the high end fashionable part of the market, where there is a demand for the latest and greatest. One is part of a multinational (Cycle Republic) which in many ways will bring the benefits of the internet to the high street, and the third based on an industrial estate on the edge of town seems to be doing well offering what the internet can't without attempting to compete with them. They'll build up a bike you've bought in a box, fit parts you've bought elsewhere, even recommend what parts and where to get them, they'll collect your bike from your workplace for repair/service and deliver it back same day.
The only bike shops I've been through the door of in the last five years have been those with a cafe attached, they seemed to be making more on the coffee than the bikes, good luck to them. Like any business it's about offering your customers what they want.

* Well one of them occupied a very valuable plot of land which no doubt influenced the decision to close and I can't bring myself to feel that sorry for them.

[chris_suffolk]

LBS is very good, and run by 3rd generation owner - very knowledgeable and helpful. Also is a shop that doubles as a Tardis - many is the time I have asked 'have you got xyx?', expecting a answer to be no - only to be met with 'which colour?'. So whilst a doubling of price will probably have me looking online, I am prepared to pay a bit more for the knowledge that it will all fit together, and (more often then not) be fitted for free too.

[gaz]

I'll use a LBS when it's the right choice for me.

That usually means a situation where they have NOS that I cannot find elsewhere, I need it now rather than tomorrow, the on-line postage rate makes the LBS offer a better deal or I need absolute certainty that it fits.

Three of those may involve a premium.

I visit a LBS less than once a year, probably much less.

[mercalia]

these days anyone can sell things online - even poundlander has an online site ( not sure if you can buy online) so no reason to be JUST be a local lbs? Spa cycles must be the archetypal example?

[Cyril Haearn]

What about repairs, they cannot be done so easily via www, or may one send a machine to be repaired?

I do as much as possible myself (nearly everything) because I believe economic activity should be avoided where possible, also to save money and to learn
Most things I can do as well as anyone else

Did work in a big LBS many years ago

[Bonefishblues]

I've tried several times. They had their opportunities so I have a clear conscience. More for less is not a great proposition the way round they do it. Drove 70 miles to buy a bike as opposed to 2, and used Halfords for the jobs I didn't do myself.

[gaz]

Repairs, servicing and even assembly are areas in which LBS have the advantage over the internet.

However there are man with van services without high street shop overheads that are encroaching on this area of the LBS business model.

I prefer to do my own repairs and maintenance.

[pete75]

unless they pricematch. eg

daughter looking for new Dyson, special one for dust allergens, it was £528 everywhere, even John Lewis, EXCEPT...Go electrical , where it was £279 on line , but linked to a shop, so could be used for price comparison, so she got it for £279 at JL, made them cough a bit, We did the same thing with a Dyson V8 Animal, got it for £329 instead of £470. Support your local , yes if they will play ball. Thing is, my LBS is run by youngsters, and if its not in last years catalogue, then it doesn't exist and never has. pah!

Don't you realise you can a superior machine , Sebo for less than those prices. All Sebo X uprights are anti allergy with British Allergy foundation approval. The firm has been on the go for about as long as Dyson but unlike the latter they got it right first time and stick to the same
basic design rather than bringing out new models all the time. They make their machines in Germany rather than in third world sweatshops like Dyson do.

[gloomyandy]

these days anyone can sell things online - even poundlander has an online site ( not sure if you can buy online) so no reason to be JUST be a local lbs? Spa cycles must be the archetypal example?

Though Spa are not really your typical in town bike shop. They are tucked in a sort of industrial estate with a small internal display area, workshop and a largish storage space. Perhaps that is a good model for the future?

[Bonefishblues]

these days anyone can sell things online - even poundlander has an online site ( not sure if you can buy online) so no reason to be JUST be a local lbs? Spa cycles must be the archetypal example?

Though Spa are not really your typical in town bike shop. They are tucked in a sort of industrial estate with a small internal display area, workshop and a largish storage space. Perhaps that is a good model for the future?

That, and being really good at what they do, in a no-nonsense way

[rmurphy195]

Not any more, since we've lost several of my LBS' (One died, one retired, the other vanished).

[fastpedaller]

LBS, or any type of local shop - I'm happy to pay 20% extra for convenience. Main problem I'm finding is that many small things I'd happily buy locally seem to only be available online, so that's where I'm ending up more and more.