- This topic has 23 replies, 20 voices, and was last updated 11 years ago by RoterStern.
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Opening a bike shop
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fourbangerFree Member
Would setting up a small bicycle shop in London, focusing on maintenance, consumables and a few commuter/touring accessories and clothing be madness?
Wandering around London at the weekend, I couldn’t help noticing how many bike shops there were and how busy they all seemed to be. Customer comes, asks assistant what they should buy, empties their wallet.
On the above basis, overheads should be fairly low. I’m handy enough with welder/saw/paintbrush to set up a counter and workshop on the cheap myself and I’d be the sole mechanic/salesman to start with. I can get premises rent free, so just some stock to buy.
Is the market saturated, will the bubble bust over winter, is there room for a bloody good mechanic that does a top job at a reasonable price?
What do you all think?
davesagoodnameforadogFree MemberPick a few shops and call them about your idea….then try and get to see/chat to them about it…..also mystery shop a few…
lordFree Membermy local shop are quite busy with repairs/service work , 2/3 lads most of the time , if they are down to 2 lads the workshop side suffers because of the phone and sales side , how you would manage as a 1 man band i dont know ,just sayin , but good luck with it
CaptainFlashheartFree MemberWork hard, earn little. Deal with people saying, “I can get it cheaper online” and walking out.
Repeat.
The bike trade is superb fun, and full of some great people. Very, very few do very well out of it. What do you want out of it?Am more than happy to offer advice if need be, but only if you’re serious. I’ve got rather a lot of experience in the London bike trade…..
mboyFree MemberI can get premises rent free
Will make a big difference in London, though that said, where would they be? Are they rent free cos it’s in the arse end of some street nobody ever walks down, in which case would spending £2k a month on a prime location actually be worth it?
my local shop are quite busy with repairs/service work , 2/3 lads most of the time , if they are down to 2 lads the workshop side suffers because of the phone and sales side
This… A LOT of this…
Thing is though, retail can be very inconsistent, at the mo our shop is usually very busy with repairs, and I’ve had to do a few hours overtime just to help get the work done, but then next week there might be 2 services a day required which wouldn’t really pay the bills.
Do LOTS of market research before you take it any further. Carry out SWOT and PEST analysis etc. before you do anything else. Make sure there is a good gap in the market and that you reckon by hook or by crook, you could actually get customers to come to you and hopefully stay with you ASAP.
Good luck with it, there’s not much margin in Bike Retail in general, though if you’re focussing mainly on the service and consumables side of things, then that’s a little better at least.
molgripsFree MemberI went to some place in the West Country recently that I cannot remember where it was.. bugger.. Bath maybe? Not sure.. anyway there was a bike maintenance kiosk there near the station, it was an interesting concept. Tiny kiosk on a busy thoroughfare selling consumables and taking bikes off punters to be fixed.
As for being a good mechanic – how will the average clueless punter know if you’re good or not?
However, with regards the market being saturated – not sure. Cycling is expanding currently, so there’s room for more shops. And I’d guess in London there’d be a market for ones not staffed by students whose experience of bikes is that they know how to ride one but only if it’s achingly trendy and fixed.
fourbangerFree MemberCaptainFlashheart, it’s just something I’ve been toying with since the weekend, but I’ve got the beans, skills and time to make it happen. What I want out of it is getting up in the morning and looking forward to going to work. Do you have some contact details?
leffeboyFull MemberA service where you went round and picked up bikes for repair in the evening would be great. I know loads of folks who need their bikes looked after but can never quite get round to going to the shop as it’s painful. Doing that in London might not be so much fun though 🙁
nealgloverFree Memberin which case would spending £2k a month on a prime location actually be worth it?
Good luck finding a “prime location” in London for £2k a month !
A “semi decent” location in York costs pretty much twice that and I would guess that London would be more expensive than York.
unfitgeezerFree MemberWouldn’t do it for the world…oh I do do it and its not all its cracked up to be(had shop in London last 9 yrs)…internet ruins sales and most public are insane !
repairs great income…but like any job/business its gets f*cking boring !
do something else ! 8)
2unfit2rideFree MemberI’m also interested in how you can get premises for free, I hope it’s not a free period with a subsequent contract, but that aside I can see that sometimes being off the beaten track a bit (especially in London)will allow people to park to visit the shop, there has been many a time when I wanted to visit a shop whilst I was passing but lack of parking put me off & I just ordered on-line when I got home.
HTH.
mboyFree MemberGood luck finding a “prime location” in London for £2k a month !
I’m not based in London, but had assumed based on what the OP wants, he doesn’t need much more than a kiosk, certainly not a huge shop.
What I want out of it is getting up in the morning and looking forward to going to work. Do you have some contact details?
Doing it for all the right reasons, just ask yourself though, will you be happy doing the same thing over and over and over for years to come. Some people are, some aren’t. Be honest with yourself.
Good luck though, cos fixing people’s bikes can be very rewarding at times!
lucienFull MemberAs the old saying goes, best way to get a small fortune in the bike business is to start with a bigger one. You’d need a prime location to attract bike commuter traffic – stand at the side of the road, count the cycles going by, then apply a tiny percentage that might get a repair problem, then divide that by the number of days you are open, by then you may realise that you won’t get enough trade this way to make it worthwhile…..imho
molgripsFree Memberstand at the side of the road, count the cycles going by, then apply a tiny percentage that might get a repair problem
Or throw tacks on the road.
simon_gFull MemberThis sort of setup makes more sense to me:
Copenhagen bicycle repair man by kiteless, on FlickrIn cities, people generally aren’t going to chuck the bike in the car to drop it off for repairs. If it’s not rideable, they’re not going to want to walk a long way to the shop either. Repair person comes to them instead. No need for premises either.
crazy-legsFull MemberHow about either a cycling orientated cafe (a la Look Mum No Hands) or a commuter stop-off point – basically somewhere secure that a commuter can roll up, park their bike, have a shower, hang their cycling kit in a locker, walk to work; a place where you charge for the bike parking/shower and also offer a repair service.
atlazFree MemberIf I was going to do it, I’d do something like the Purple Bike Shed and do collections/mobile repairs for people. I’d also find a few bike shops/distributers I could have a good relationship with in case customers wanted bikes but that would be a definite sideline.
rootes1Full MemberIs the market saturated, will the bubble bust over winter, is there room for a bloody good mechanic that does a top job at a reasonable price?
Though london is better than most places most shops still seem to cater for the ‘enthusiast’ i.e. the shark filled waters and not catering for the majority
have a read of this
MacavityFree Memberhttp://www.thecyclingexperts.co.uk/the-cycling-industry/opening-a-bike-shop/
“Would setting up a small bicycle shop in London, focusing on maintenance, consumables and a few commuter/touring accessories and clothing be madness?”
If it is going to be a one man operation then
Maintenance = grubby hands
grubby hands = grubby clothing
do people buy grubby clothes?maccruiskeenFull MemberI can get premises rent free
I think if you have access to a legitimate rent free retail premises in London forget about working for a living – take the premises, sublet it to someone else and live off their rent 🙂
Infact who cares what sort of premises it is – stuff it full of rent paying poverty wage workers
jimbobrightonFree Memberformer london bike shop chain employee here.
Flashy is, of course correct.
If you want to be your own boss, work hard then I would say it’s possible. but bear in mind that you will 100% need to employ someone if you’re planning on getting any spannering done.
I’d say there is still a big market for bike maintenance in London, but accessibility, and the ability to do the work will be your biggest hurdles – how do you look after customers, sell them stuff, take money, make sure people aren’t coming in nicking stuff (believe me, bike shops in london have a nightmare with this, and still get through the pile of knackered old bikes that people bring in?
oh that’s another thing. don’t think you’ll be working on nice bikes. 90% of them will be seized, ****, bent and take a huge amount of time to put right. then your customer will balk when you tell them a drivetrain replacement will cost the £100.
However, you will meet lots of nice folk, play with bikes, fix stuff, feel good about yourself and learn about a new industry. Please don’t think it’s easy, though, cos it ain’t!
MacavityFree Memberhttp://nbda.com/articles/want-to-start-a-bike-shop-pg70.htm
One of the other problems of being a one man band is that you may never be able to go on holiday ever again.
brakesFree MemberI’m sure there is/ was a mobile bike repair person on London Bridge – there’s a lot of support and momentum gathering for cycling in London at the moment, perhaps you could speak to one of the councils about partnering with them on some kind of initiative. you could use your premises as a base, but have an agreement with one of the councils that you could park up your ‘mobile repair van’ on one of the bridges and offer repairs there and then, or to take their bike away and repair it.
Being on a bridge, you’d have a captive market to some extent.RoterSternFree MemberHave you actually worked in the cycle trade? To me this would be the first port of call. If you are currently employed maybe a Saturday job to get your foot in the door, start making contacts within the trade, see what sells and what doesn’t and learn how to deal with often difficult customers. That way when you do decide to start your own business you should be taken more seriously as people will already know you.
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