Just in case anyone is interested, Rapha appear to be opening a store in the expanded Bicester Village shopping doodah in Oxfordshire.

It’ll never work – imagine the shame at being seen in last year’s designs.

I’ve never understood the attraction of these places, people flock to them like some modern day pilgrimage

I agree, I go shopping when I need something, not as a leisure activity. That’s what bike riding is!

Just mentioned it as it might be useful if people want to try stuff on, see it in the flesh or possibly get a discount, although these outlets are no longer the discount places they once were, just out of town shopping centres!

I’ve never understood the attraction of these places, people flock to them like some modern day pilgrimage

you know how you like cycling? Some other people feel the same way about shopping, some these people also don’t understand your chosen leisure activity either.

There, every day’s a school day.

Interesting. This must be an outlet, otherwise it doesn’t really fit with the Bicester approach. I wonder what is going to happen to their other outlet? Didn’t realise they’d have enough discount stock to have an outlet there, good on them if they can do it

Maybe this is the result of the new PE backers?

Praise be – I get dragged round there every time we go to the outlaws who live up that way. Her face will be a picture when I happily agree to take a detour..

Interesting. This must be an outlet, otherwise it doesn’t really fit with the Bicester approach. I wonder what is going to happen to their other outlet?

My understanding is it will be an outlet but also a Rapha club house and café. They’ve already made contact with our (local) club and are keen to engage. There’s a few new club houses opening around the world so I assume this is part of an expansion plan from the new owner/investors and the ‘local engagement’ is a formal approach.

I’ve never understood the attraction of these places, people flock to them like some modern day pilgrimage

It’s not my bag, and as a Bicester resident I suffer all the congestion problems that the village brings, but BV is HUGE. It’s something like the 3rd most visited tourist attraction amongst the (affluent, high spending) Middle and Far East market (after Buck House and Windsor Castle IIRC). When the train stops there (you can literally walk off the train straight into BV, it has a separate entrance on the platform to the one ‘regular’ travellers use) the announcements are in Arabic and Chinese as well as English, and the platforms are always rammed. It must make a mind boggling amount of money.

Oh, and they are still recruiting.

It’s something like the 3rd most visited tourist attraction amongst the (affluent, high spending) Middle and Far East market (after Buck House and Windsor Castle IIRC).

Yes, IIRC it’s owned by a company that also owns many other retail ‘outlets’ around the world and is actively marketed overseas to far east market as a tourist attraction.