Geoffrey Butler Cycles - closure

Please be fair and thoughtful in your opinions. No rants please.
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Paul Smith SRCC
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Re: Geoffrey Butler Cycles - closure

Post by Paul Smith SRCC »

iandusud wrote:..Paul, thank you for your insight into the closure of GB Cycles and the current plight of cycle retailers, but also for a very intelligent commentary on retail in general. I couldn't agree more with you.Ian

I must add I don't know the details, but I will be very surprised if they have "gone out of business" as such. I'd imagine it's potentially more a case of the 'sum of the parts', George is of retirement age, he owns the premises and the future for a variety of reasons is looking uninspiring, at least uninspiring enough to conclude that keeping their bricks and mortar destination store is just no longer worth it; he may as well sell up and retire. In part it's that feeling that it's no longer worth it that for me is the bigger picture; Geoffrey Butlers was an institution and an era has come to an end, as I alluded to up thread; it feels like the seventies when Supermarkets grew at the expense of Green Grocers, Butchers and Bakers, it just doesn't feel me with joy.

As for 2021 for sure it will be different, very different to a normal summer, challenging and definitely somewhat worrying especially with supply even worse than 2020; but it's not all doom a gloom. When the weather breaks I think cycling will still be very popular, workshops will again be very busy, if current predictions are accurate we will probably have restricted lifestyles again this coming summer and all the same factors that made cycling popular last summer will still be relevant.

How a LBS supplies bikes and how customers shop has to some degree naturally changed, in normal times a store may show case a a model range and order in from that, the customer choosing the model, colour and size of their choice, the latter often after a sizing 'bike fit' and something that many find of value that sadly we can't offer at the moment. The current situation is it's far more a case of we can supply something that would be a relevant choice, it may not be your first, second or third choice, but it is a viable consideration. The other thing that has changed is a more traditional LBS is having customers travel from further a field should they happen to have the very bike the customer wants; a bike that their own LBS has just quoted a very long ETA for. This is because most brands have been presold into dealers pretty much for their entire summer 2021 production run, so unless your LBS has what you want on pre-order then yes expect an extremely long ETA. Note pre-orders still normally have very long lead time as well; just not as long!

At the moment it's not unusual to still see a shop full of bikes and often a few in boxes that have been delivered; but these were probably ordered months ago. In reality stores are trading on these pe-orders that are arriving in dribs and drabs, as and when they arrive they go onto the shop floor and a customer chooses from that stock; in effect they've got what they've got at that moment and the customer often needs to make a decision quicker than they may have normally. As you'd expect the supply and demand of this very limited stock means it doesn't remain on the shop floor for long.
Last edited by Paul Smith SRCC on 12 Feb 2021, 7:36pm, edited 1 time in total.
Paul Smith. 37 Years in the Cycle Trade
My personal cycling blog, Bike Fitter at C & N Cycles
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Re: Geoffrey Butler Cycles - closure

Post by Syd »

Posted on Twitter a couple of minutes ago.

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