Quote Originally Posted by lunacycles View Post

You should.
I do not see it as Discrimination and I disagree with you that I should. They are a business and for whatever reason they choose not to directly cater to me. In many areas that I have been in I can totally understand that it could not be a wise business move (very few cyclists period, forget women my height and an XS bike could easily sit on the floor for years until it's worthless...especially a nice one). When I have been in areas with a reasonable cycling culture I have had no problems whatsoever testing bikes in my size range.

That doesn't mean they wouldn't help me. They'd all order the bikes. The good ones would order them with little to no obligation on my part. The bad ones...well, just because I don't see it as discrimination does NOT mean I choose to do business with them, they are then a company that does not provide a service to me so I don't have a use for them.

If it's discriminatory for a business to narrow a client base and then cater to them at the exclusion of others then there are quite a few WOMEN'S ONLY sporting goods shops around me that CLEARLY need to be slapped with a lawsuit because they'd laugh any guy asking them to order "men's" equipment right out of the store. I don't see any "men's only" stores around...

Heck, if you want to go that far my own bike shop "discriminates" against non-serious cyclists. ANYONE that walks in the door gets treated the same no doubt (that's one of the many reasons they get all my hard earned play money), but they don't stock bikes under $1500, only stock Ultegra and Dura Ace or equivalent (even down to brake pads!). You want $30 commuter tires, nope, sorry, $90 race tires is all they've got. They've chosen their niche and they cater to it (and yes, they'd gladly order the cheaper parts and bikes if asked). If they didn't narrow they'd be out of business as there's plenty of competition around here and they can't possibly stock everything.

Businesses don't have to be everything to everybody, but they do have to treat everybody that walks in the door with the same amount of respect while saying "I'm sorry, we don't stock that here, why don't you try ____ or we'll be happy to order you ____ that's similar from our supplier".

Now, a certain National outdoors store refusing to carry all sizes of Chacos AND refusing to order them either...that urks me. Still don't think I'm ready to label it "discrimination", I think it's used far to frequently and too liberally giving it's historical connotations. Poor understanding of that aspect of their customer base and customer relations, yes (something I should fix by writing a letter).