Bike shop closures in chester

[foxychick]

Four shops have now closed in the last 18 months, dave miller cycles who has retired, the edge cycleworks, cycle house, and sixty nine cycles. Never good when any bike shop closes maybe the online prices are to blame?

The face of retail has changed dramatically since I started [Sixty Nine Cycles] eight years ago," owner Nick Moore said on Facebook.

"Whilst the cost of running a business and being an employer has increased during those eight years, the pressure from discounted online sellers has ultimately forced the business to no longer be financially viable."

He added: 'We have a very strong local following and the loyalty from our community of customers has not gone unnoticed over the years."

The shop will close on 31st March.

Moore is a former product developer for Alpinestars – he designed safety products for MotoGP and World Superbike riders. He was also a pro mechanic for Grand Prix motorcycling teams.

Sixty Nine Cycles is now added to a long list of recent bike shop closures.

[RickH]

in the 4 years I've been regularly over in Chester, I've generally used the Bike Factory & sometimes, more recently, Evans (since they opened a Chester store during that time). I was aware of 69 Cycles but never actually got to call in. Called in to Edge once but they didn't have what I was after.

[horizon]

Although I'm always sorry when someone loses a small business, I've never been interested in bike shops. I'm glad we note their demise on here (and I also shed a tear for really old ones, but that's for the history not the cycling) but I don't think their loss is a particularly bad thing. Lining up some shiny, new but often irrelevant products isn't that useful. But, yes, I would say that repairs, servicing, getting parts in, advice, putting things togther - yes, all that is useful but you don't need a shop for that, you need a shed or a van. In fact I would say that it is a great time for people in the bike trade if they specialise, go on-line (not in a Wiggle way), stick with service and repair and engage in other ways.

[reohn2]

Although I'm always sorry when someone loses a small business, I've never been interested in bike shops. I'm glad we note their demise on here (and I also shed a tear for really old ones, but that's for the history not the cycling) but I don't think their loss is a particularly bad thing. Lining up some shiny, new but often irrelevant products isn't that useful. But, yes, I would say that repairs, servicing, getting parts in, advice, putting things togther - yes, all that is useful but you don't need a shop for that, you need a shed or a van. In fact I would say that it is a great time for people in the bike trade if they specialise, go on-line (not in a Wiggle way), stick with service and repair and engage in other ways.

I agree.
I think the mobile cycle mechanic can make a living with a van that's well equipped especially in a university city.

As for LBS's going bust one only has to look at the wider retail picture to see that even big High St outfits are going to the wall due to online trade,so It's no surprise independent cycle shops are struggling to make ends meet.Sad but a sign of internet times.

[horizon]

Some of the survivors are now coffee shops, book shops and general hang-out places for cyclists - there's scope for some innovative thinking. There is always room for a big generic bike shop in a big generic city but a small bike shop cannot carry the range unless it specialises.

[pwa]

Our nearest bike shop in Llantwit closed a few months back. I assume the figures didn't add up. But with customers like me I don't know how any bike shop could survive. I buy so little, get most things online because I know what I want and don't need advice, and I fix things myself. The nearest thing to a LBS that I have is Spa, who I will call on the phone if I need to speak to a human. The danger is that in a year or two the only places I will be able to get done the few jobs I won't do myself, like pressing in headset parts, will be the underwhelming Halfords / Evans. I'd choose Evans over Halfords, except that Evans is harder to get to.

Maybe I need to live in Harrogate.

[PH]

That four shops shut makes we wonder how they were surviving at all, you’d have thought that the customers from the first two closures would boost the remaining two. Retail has changed and that continues, winners and losers both for the business and the customer. I’m not sentimental about it.

[reohn2]

Some of the survivors are now coffee shops, book shops and general hang-out places for cyclists - there's scope for some innovative thinking. There is always room for a big generic bike shop in a big generic city but a small bike shop cannot carry the range unless it specialises.

On my travels I see lots of big country pubs,which are usually on the edge of villages,that have closed down and now boarded up and wonder if they could be reopened as cafe/coffee shop cum newsagents cum B&B local corner shop pick up point for Yodel/DHL/UK mail,etc

[Jontrev]

Try a real shop
Graham Weigh Cycles 3-5 Chester Rd E, Shotton, Deeside CH5 1QA

[foxyrider]

Some of the survivors are now coffee shops, book shops and general hang-out places for cyclists - there's scope for some innovative thinking. There is always room for a big generic bike shop in a big generic city but a small bike shop cannot carry the range unless it specialises.

On my travels I see lots of big country pubs,which are usually on the edge of villages,that have closed down and now boarded up and wonder if they could be reopened as cafe/coffee shop cum newsagents cum B&B local corner shop pick up point for Yodel/DHL/UK mail,etc

They can't even survive in full on tourist areas, several have closed in the Peak District quite recently including one of the largest in the Hope Valley - I think it's a complex set of issues, no single easy fix. Many other hostelries survive and prosper so clearly some of it is management, but also the menu and pricing policies, location of course and quality of service.

Back to bike shops, on my travels it seems that in smaller communities in particular, shops that don't rely 100% on bike sales are those surviving. So if they also sell electrical goods, or toys or have a cafe they are more likely to stay in business. Specialist stores never seem to prosper in this neck of the woods - problem being they don't get novice riders through the door and so rely on a small number of enthusiasts - never gonna work. We used to have a good number of LBS's hereabouts, at least a dozen, we now have more chains than independents and at least one of those LBS's is constantly on the brink.

Having worked in the trade for half a lifetime i've been inside some of the changes, some for the good, others less so. Clearly the 'Tesco' bikes of the early nineties did a huge amount of damage to the market which is only now recovering from that onslaught. To make money selling bikes you need to shift numbers, 10 £100 bikes makes more than 1 £1000 bike and most LBS's just don't get that turnover and never did.

And those cheap bikes are often replaced rather than repaired as it's uneconomical to do so - which has a knock on effect with sustainability of workshop services.

The issue with the big chains is that their product range rarely takes in anything not mainstream and whilst your local LBS may have what you want they will likely have to order stuff in which they are reluctant to do as they could get lumbered when you change your mind.

And then there's the interweb - everything you could ever dream of and more - except you can't pick it up and check it out. It's no surprise smaller bricks and mortar operations get uppity at people using them as try outs for web purchases.

In reality we need all of them, they all offer something useful to the wide spectrum of cyclists out there. You can't get repairs done on the internet, you don't get the advice of long experience from a school leaver in a big chain and don't expect your LBS to be able to match either on price. Use each of them wisely.

As to man in a van - really? It might work for the simplest jobs but would you trust your pride and joy to them for a full strip and service? Where do they store 'work in progress', how do they get their parts, have they got all the correct tools. Maybe we are descending to a marginalised world of 'artisan' mechanics in garden sheds charging high with long waits for their services - think plumbers and electricians!

[iandriver]

We just don't live in the age of the small independent any more. Many high streets are pretty much dead or full of chain stores now. Tesco Express, Specsavers, you name it. The internet gets the blame, it's probably just the last nail in the coffin from a process that's been going on since the 1950s.

[pwa]

Try a real shop
Graham Weigh Cycles 3-5 Chester Rd E, Shotton, Deeside CH5 1QA

GW has missed the boat really. At one time, prior to the rise of internet sales, GW was level with the likes of Ribble as a mail order outfit. But while Ribble seem to have embraced the internet and moved forward GW has receded. Too reliant on the shop. Compare the two websites.

[Cyril Haearn]

Try a real shop
Graham Weigh Cycles 3-5 Chester Rd E, Shotton, Deeside CH5 1QA

GW has missed the boat really. At one time, prior to the rise of internet sales, GW was level with the likes of Ribble as a mail order outfit. But while Ribble seem to have embraced the internet and moved forward GW has receded. Too reliant on the shop.

Receded? Maybe just a real shop with a bit of tradition, in Wales of course
My LBS closed, it is now a bookshop +/-1?

[pwa]

Try a real shop
Graham Weigh Cycles 3-5 Chester Rd E, Shotton, Deeside CH5 1QA

GW has missed the boat really. At one time, prior to the rise of internet sales, GW was level with the likes of Ribble as a mail order outfit. But while Ribble seem to have embraced the internet and moved forward GW has receded. Too reliant on the shop.

Receded? Maybe just a real shop with a bit of tradition, in Wales of course
My LBS closed, it is now a bookshop +/-1?

GW has receded in the sense that in the days of mail order it was in the consciousness of cycle part buyers across the UK, but by failing to build up a swish internet business (like the once very similar Ribble) it has been forgotten by a lot of us and is not known about by younger cyclists. It has almost become an LBS and, as such, vulnerable.

[foxychick]

Bike factory in chester are doing very well as i was in there on thursday and they were building 17 bikes up ready for friday teatime some of them quite expensive bikes as well.