Bike Shop, Fantasy vs. Reality

[bcipam]

In the area of percentage of certain make bikes, Trek is talking about wanting their dealers to carry 80% of "Trek" in their store. They also own Gary Fisher and as mentioned Lemond, but I am not sure if they are included in the 80%. Plus they are beginning to open up Trek Concept stores even if it is near a Trek dealer. Besides the fact that Trek takes a nice percentage of sales from their dealers.

Some might call it good business but ideas like this would kill a smaller dealer and for that I call it greediness on the companies part. Just my opinion.

I totally agree!!! I don't see this as a good thing at all! Because of that I refuse partonize Trek (even though I own a Lemond and a Fisher - both bought before the "evil empire" acquired the companies).

[Geonz]

Agree - I wouldn't want to *narrow* things to only women... the idea is that you're *expanding* the market to reach the people that the regular LBS isn't going to reach.
Trying to think like a marketer here: you want people to think they will be the special, individual customer and whatever their "special" situation - you will work with them.
To me, what's going to bring me back to a shop is listening to what I want and not filtering that through "this is how *I* define cycling." Don't inform me that I will want a road bike in six months so I might as well get one now; perhaps suggest that I try one, perhaps mention that this is what happens to many people... but if I want a hybrid, don't keep telling me I don't (especially if you haven't even asked me where I'm planning to ride!).
A bike shop simply can't compete with Wally World price wise so you have to offer something they can't.

[Bike Goddess]

Maybe TREK is a Starbuck's wannabe!

[bcipam]

Oh lordy, a Trek store on every corner and still nothing in one I want to buy!

[Jo-n-NY]

more like "run-a-way" model!

I think having a bike shop right on a bike path is an Awesome idea!!

Lemond bikes are made by Trek so if you're going to carry Trek, you should have no problems carrying Lemond.

Specialized changed their "sales" tactic this year just as an FYI. My LBS was a Trek/Specialized dealer but no more. Spec is requiring all their dealers to maintain a certain amount of inventory and is dictating the type of inventory the LBS can carry. For some of the little guys like mine, it was too big a inventory to have on the books and Spec wouldn't work with them so they dropped the line and picked up Gary Fisher instead.

As I ride a Specialized and that is what my dealer carries among many others to cater as well as he can to the market, I asked a few questions. Maybe it is different in other areas or maybe they are getting down on the dealers that carry Trek but my dealer does not have any problem at all with them. He does not carry Trek, mainly because he wants the best selection he can give to his customers needs and Trek would not allow him that so his offerings in road, mtn, hybrid, & comfort bikes are: Specialized,Cannodale, Raleigh,Diamondback (a Raleigh Co.) Kestel, Lemond, Gary Fisher, Schwinn and maybe Univega for Hybrid.

In his honest opinion, with a Trek vs Specialized, he feels for the money you will get more value with the Specialized and from a catalog, he showed me a few examples.

Again, my research fell with this one dealer and it may be different elsewhere.

~ JoAnn

[SalsaMTB]

My DH and I are in the process of opening a shop and let me tell you, spend a lot of time on that business plan! A lot of small business go under because of a poor business plan. Either they don't create a good one or they don't follow it. It's extremely important to create a solid plan, one that is achievable.

I'm not sure how far along you are in your plan, but once you start putting $$ on your dreams, you'll quickly earn a whole new appreciation for your LBS. A lbs is NOT cheap in inventory, you need a decent amount of money to start with. You most likely will not be able to stock as much as what you initially plan.

Be sure you are not opening a bike shop just because you like to ride. You amount of time riding will drastically decrease because you'll be working 6-7 days a week, possibly 12 hours a day. You need to be a huge self starter, have a high drive for sales, ready to make a ton of sacrifices in your personal life for the business, also be prepared to failure. It sounds sad to say that, but you have to consider the ramifications if your business fails and decide if you're ready to accept that.

Here is a good site to read about starting a bike shop:

http://nbda.com/page.cfm?PageID=70

[roughingit]

Man Trek sounds like a PITA to work with! I'll second the Jamis recommendation, they are nice bikes. I'd also like to add a Fuji rec. Okay, okay, I'm biased since I ride one, but honestly they make nice road bikes and in a stellar variety of sizes. I agree with the fun apparel crowd and also, make sure you have some cold weather stuff! It bites walking into a store that only has one style of tights for instance.

I think having a women's only store is a good idea, and I would definately frequent one. It would be far less intimidating for beginners and refreshing for the rest of us. I bet ladies would be willing to travel long distances to visit such a store too. Another men's item to stock would be shoes for us wide webfooters out here. ;-)

[tulip]

Offer classes on bike repair and riding.

And for the higher end, become a Luna shop, where women can check out the Lunas and order them if they get the bug (www.lunacycles.com)