It's OFFICIAL! I'm going to be an LBS owner!

[RoadRaven]

First... CONGRATS!!!!

That is WAAAAAAY kewel...

You have some fab "inside-the-heads-of-customers" info here. Great idea to ask

I agree a small cubicle somewhere is an excellent idea. I bought a jersey the other day that I discarded as too small and was about to put on back on the rack... until the shop assisant suggested I try it on - the shop had changed hands and been renovated, and there, between bike pumps and helmets was a little changing cubicle!

I haven't noticed in this thread, but maybe I have missed it... what focus will your shop have? Mountain biking? Commuting? Road Racing?

Obviously you can have more than one type... but your staff will dictate who comes to you. The LBS closest has a couple of mountain bikers there, and for a long time it was a commute and mtn bike shop - one of the owners is a road racer, so it will be interestig to see if clients follow...

Napier LBS has no experts now in road racing, so in its change of ownership, it went from a shop who had a reasonable racing clientele to one who appears to cater for families and commuters and middle of the range racing bikes.

Hastings LBS has several top-end road racers working there (at least two are going to the cycling nationals next week), so they tend to sell lots of top end bikes and equipment (thats where my partner got his two cervellos from - like Cancellara rides) but they haven't lost the small-town friendly touch and have an excellent family based and beginning cyclist base too.

The LBS furthest away from me has women who race working there, so they have quite a few female clients...

As well as thinking about your passion and what your shop will be known for... think also a bit about specialist bikes - like tandems or recumbents... would it be worth havng examples of these bikes in store, with someone who knows about them, and ability to access what people want/size etc when someone shows interest...