And the bikeshop shuts up shop

Lost money ??

Had a distraught mate on the phone last night who recieved a call telling him this.

He was told that the “other”shop would honour the christmas club – but not which other shop….. Certainly isnt any i know the staff at ( most of the local ones ) as i fired out a text last night.

I know the owners on here perhaps he would like to clear up the details as my mate cannot get a hold of him to find out any more details and is terrified his kid will go without christmas – he is not well off and cannot just conjure up the cash for another bike. ( although being a good friend i will likely help out if it comes to that since i have no kids to buy for)

And again in English!?

Those that need to know will understand.

Im hoping by other shop he means he has sold it as a going concern and the new owner will honour the christmas club.

Well I understood it. Sounds to me like the shop is not a stand-alone venture, that there are two linked shops, maybe in separate towns?

To the best of my knowledge that is no longer the case. – how ever it was until recently.

trail_rat – Member

Those that need to know will understand.

ooooooo get you!

Going by the farepak carry on I’d say he’s stuffed.

feel for your mate.

i have lots of hindsight advice, but none that would help him now. hope you can sort it out.

Is that an old age thing bruce – no idea what your on about 🙂

JFGI 😉

I have 2 kids if you’re feeling all santaish

Christmas clubs? have these folk ever heard of savings accounts?

Why give a bike shop money to hold a bike for you when it can be saved – with interest to be dipped into for Christmas stuff?

Surely anything other than this is sheer financial suicide. As the op’s mate has now experienced!

killwillforchips – Member
Christmas clubs? have these folk ever heard of savings accounts?

Why give a bike shop money to hold a bike for you when it can be saved – with interest to be dipped into for Christmas stuff?

Surely anything other than this is sheer financial suicide. As the op’s mate has now experienced!

Not everyone is as disciplined as you or such a wonderful example to society as yourself

Unfortunately I think he’s going to struggle to get money back if the company has folded – he just joins the end of a line of creditors.

Christmas clubs? have these folk ever heard of savings accounts?

The advantage is the shop will also reserve the bike for you from sometimes scarce Christmas stock.

Shops dont carry masses of stock so on xmas eve very little chance of getting a bike

People dont have masses of space to hide bikes from kids in a flat

There are reasons other than just the paying up aspect.

Tbh we had a perfectly successful christmas club that ran without a hitch in the 8 years i worked in a shop.

my first question was more why did you go to that shop in the first place . I never hand money to a shop with a forsale sign on the door !

Not disputing your point trail rat but Ive never seen more stock held in for instance; halfords, Evans etc.

If a bike shop is reluctant to hold stock this time of year best to walk away from them or rather run!

But on the subject of xmas clubs, if you give money to be held by a shop you’re encouraging bad business standards. They don’t need to invest in stock, they charge any old price and all because they’ve already got your money!
Save year round, get a restricted account if self control is a problem but never buy into Christmas clubs. Save £20 per month you’ll have more than enough for a child’s bike etc.

Not how a good club works

You pick your bike you get the price , you pay deposit to hold it and it gets put in the stock room.

No holding to ransom because the have your money.

20 quid might not be alot to you.

Actually trail rat it is. I’m not judging you, Infact I’ve the upmost respect for someone so clearly committed to providing their kids a good Christmas when times are tough.
I merely hate to see two bit business’s exploiting people with limited means.

But take it how you want.

I understand perfectly who Trail_Rat is talking about. “Dave Dodd’s dad’s dog’s dead”.

If a bike shop is reluctant to hold stock this time of year best to walk away from them or rather run!

So a shop should overstock on stuff that only really sells at Christmas, then flog the surplus off cheap in the sales?

I refer you to the “bike shops don’t make that much money” thread 😉

Ben usually you’re a master of all things bike and we all love you dearly!

but i never said anything about over stocking. Do your forecasts and financial projections accurately and you should know when & what to buy in for any given season.
a bikeshop that’s reluctant to buy stock at Christmas is going bust! if not immediately definatley inevitably.

I’d say this:

If the bike shop owner maintained correct records for all those that paid into the “shop” and created a Client Account to which he deposited the funds from the “client” then the money is protected.

No idea if this happened and not commenting anymore, except..

Lets hope that all get thier money back in time for Xmas.

Oh, and some people take on trust owners of shops in instances like this, so no need to get all “I can’t beleive he didn’t put the money in a Bank, bladdy blah blah blah”

Cmtact has been made

Phone back monday says he.

Where is daveisagoodnameforadog when you need him ?

I have a fairly good idea the shop t_r is on about if not the person.

I would think that having the quick turn over stock that a christmas club would bring to a new buisness would be looked upon highly in the eyes of the new owners which would hopefully give some reassurance to your mate.

Fingers crossed it all works out for him and his kids.

killwillforchips

Don’t know how you think these christmas club’s at local bike shops work but basically it not neciserilly a saving scheme for a bike (some may work this way but none that i have heard of). It is more of a way of reserving the exact bike you want for christmas.
For the ones i have used and helped out with they have worked as follows. The LBS takes a deposit on a bike then orders it in to ensure it is in stock and built up for the big day. For a LBS this is probably the only logically way to get in the large volume of stock required and ensure they can manage the extra work of building bikes for one specific date. The customer then pays the remaining balence on colection of the bike closer to christmas to avoid having to hide it for so long. The LBS i helped out at would do deliveries on the weekend before chrstmas with bikes on the christmas club list although this was a more difficult to organise as we would often get request to deliver in 3 or 4 different locations at the same time as wee Jimmy, John, James and Jack were playing in the local rugby match from say 12-1 so the present could be sneaked in then un-detected.

but i never said anything about over stocking. Do your forecasts and financial projections accurately and you should know when & what to buy in for any given season.
a bikeshop that’s reluctant to buy stock at Christmas is going bust! if not immediately definatley inevitably.

What company gets stock numbers exactly right? The shop should know exactly, precisely how many of each model they’re going to sell, several months in advance? Never going to happen – no retailer manages it, that’s why there are sales after Christmas 😉

“a bikeshop that’s reluctant to buy stock at Christmas is going bust! if not immediately definatley inevitably.”

Got a bike shop have you ? Hasnt been an issue in any ive worked at over the years.

Iirc must be close to 20 years one of them has been in business using this model.

I know of other shops who hold lots of stock perhaps claiming to be the biggest shop in the area and have massive sales after xmas who are going bust.

Is a bike shop not a supermarket,

Taking the “you could buy a car for that price” arguement to its logical conclusion – you wouldnt expect a car dealer to have every make and model and spec available for you to take away that day would you?