So after nearly 120 years trading, 4 of which being my first part time job as a scrawny school kid, Kirkpatrick Cycles in Dumfries shuts it's doors for the very last time in a little over 15 minutes time.
I don't really know what to say, I co-own a web design company, I BUILD online shops - the very things that are cited as the biggest downfall and threat to the small, local bike shops that we'd all like to have available to us.
Certainly the challenge of trading against SUCH massive online competition these days, like CRC, Wiggle and the German giants is a completely different game to that played back in the mid 90's when I worked there. We did a roaring trade on repairs, and associated spares/groupset - and a 2/3 day streak without selling a bike was cause for concern.
I don't know how any small, independant bike shops can possibly stand a chance of succeeding nowadays, unless they're located right at a good, well run, well maintained, and more importantly well marketed trail centre and can pick up on a steady stream of hire, 'I've just broke my XYX' and 'it's raining and I forgot my waterproof' business.
Dumfries is now left with G&G and Halfords as it's main cycle shops, with another small Indy place in the wrong end of town, and the boys out at Ae.
I'm not sure what my point is, if indeed I have one, and this may simply be the nostalgic rumblings of someone saddened to see his childhood workplace, where the next 20 years enthusiasm for cycling was born, going down the pan.
A sad day indeed.
Popped in today to see Ross. Lots of bodies in and out but a lot of stuff still lying around.
Hope his new ventures go well and we see him riding more again.
Good luck to Ross :lol:Lots of people are going to miss the shop, being the last of a different era as Jamesmio says.
Strange how he is closing just as young Monty is opening not far away in Castle Douglas and Kircowan Cycles are moving into new premises in Newton Stewart.
We used to use there - and Douglas in Castle Douglas cycles.
Then Rick set up and actually carried MTB stuff...so we used him and Castle Douglas.
A shame.
Very sad and will be followed by alot more this year.I live in Cheltenham and most of them are struggle this year.Maybe there is to many bike shops and the boom is long gone!!.
Sure, the internet is partly to blame - and you don't have to look far on this forum to find threads about buying from Germany or the States - but another problem is people are generally better off and bikes are generally cheaper* so fewer people want to get repairs done. And when they do, because the bikes are cheaper it's harder to charge decent repair prices - again you don't have to look far on this forum to find a thread complaining about repair costs.
*I mean the bikes that most people buy, not high-end dream machines. 50 years ago the average Raleigh cost the equivalent of £500-£600 in today's money.
Don't mean to be harsh, it is sad to see such a long established close, but they must be doing something wrong. Bike shops popping up even more round here and the established shops are expanding they have so much trade. Ok the TDF may have helped (W yorks) but the growth has been happening for 3/4 years and the positive business news is the same in all the shops.
My LBS - 10/12 miles away actually - still seems to manage to run a thriving shop, selling & fixing bikes, and he's not cheap (for parts) nor at the end of a trail centre. Just a good solid LBS that will fix things properly..
Not having a pop at the OP; not sure how he manages sometimes but it's often a fortnight waiting time to get stuff booked in for a fix..
The internet has also given more people the confidence and knowledge to undertake their own repairs rather than take a bike along to their LBS for fixing. Shame to see shops closing though 😐
I used Kirkpatrick Cycles for the odd wee thing since the late 80's when Bob had it but these days you have to find a niche that you can fill in the bike trade and really exploit it (aka ben above), I'm sure Ross tried but Dumfries is a strange town for any independant retail business, especially so for the cycle trade as i imagine most folk will be happy to go to Carlisle and Scotby cycles etc, or take a trip up to Glasgow.
There is a lot of folk in this area who do cycle and the money is there to be shaken from their pockets but you have to find that certain #wow to entice them in and make them feel part of something bigger, sort of an optional ego massage but not so blatant or crass.
I'm sure ross will be happy to just get out and ride a bit more now, without the worry of the shop but i hope he jumped before sinking too much of himself into it.
The internet has also given more people the confidence and knowledge to undertake their own repairs rather than take a bike along to their LBS for fixing.
I dunno - there are a lot of repair only bike shops opening and thriving in Edinburgh, and I think this is down to Bike2Work being so popular. The majority of folk on that scheme will get a bike but be unsure how to repair it, and these new shops are capitalising on that. They're also keeping quite a basic stock of essentials so they're not tying up cash-flow in stock that may or may not sell.
I think things will turn around for bike shops in the next few years if they are able to adapt.
I can see a lot more use of electric assist cycles in cities that will bring a new influx of cyclists who have no idea or intention of fixing them. But it will need bike shops who are able to fix them.
There will also be more hire schemes like Boris bikes but with electric assist and it would be good to have bike shops that they can be taken to if there are problems or that can head out to repair bikes that have a problem (ie puncture or fault). I can see some electric cargo bikes designed to transport bikes back for repair instead of having to use a van.
It's sad, but they can be frustrating even when you give them first dibs on your cash.
I went into one of my LBS's this week for a Shimano TL-FC24 part to remove the new XTR BB's. They didn't have one, didn't have one in their workshop, and even when I gave them the code they couldn't find it on the computer and reckoned it didn't exist. I even got my bike out of the car and took it in to show them, and after checking all their other BB tools to confirm they were too big, they said 'must be a new part'.
Today I tried them both to buy a torque wrench. Neither of them had any, nor did the staff know if/when they would.
I bought one from CRC. What else can you do?
This kind of thing is sad to hear, but at the same time, you have to ask yourself why it's closing and be honest.
I opened my own small LBS almost 9 months ago, and it has far exceeded my expectations so far in terms of money through the till! I genuinely couldn't be happier with how the business has gone to date, though I know the winter will be the true test of success...
I can't compete with the big online guys, so I don't even try to. What I do is make sure that my shop is very good where the big boys can't compete, on service and things like emergency purchases. A bike shop with a poor workshop and lacking in inner tubes/energy foods/brake pads isn't going to do very well when those last minute guys pop in on a Saturday afternoon wanting to ride on a Sunday... Also, for good customers, wherever possible I will price match online even if my margins are almost non existent, because it keeps them coming back to the shop when they wil then buy other things at much higher margin too.
Running a successful business is all about knowing your market, and choosing which battles to fight and which to ignore. Don't try and compete with people who have no realistic chance of competing with, but you should be aiming to better your next nearest independent rivals in as many ways as you possibly can.
The other thing to note is that all successful bike shops have a community that people want to belong to. Be it road, offroad, track, whatever. A bike shop NEEDS to be providing something that people want to be part of, not just fixing their bikes or selling them the odd part. If a bike shop doesn't have at least one regular ride, why not? One thing that I can't often afford to do is spend too much time nattering in the shop when it's busy, and I've got repairs coming out of my ears and customers want to chat rubbish to you. When you're out on a bike with them, it doesn't matter, you've got no time pressures and they can chat with you all they want.
I really thought I might struggle getting a community together, but several hundred Facebook followers inside 9 months (social media is MEGA important too guys!), a proactive weekly ride (just a 30 mile road ride every Thursday evening right now but it regularly has a dozen people attend), and the business owner being there driving it from the front, can make all the difference!
On the subject of social media, I see far too many businesses get it wrong for a number of reasons... You need to be sharing the interesting stuff on Facebook/Twitter, your customers want to see it. You may be as busy as you can imagine, but if you've just built a new £3k all singing and dancing bike for a customer, take a bloody photo of it and share it FFS! Your customers want to see it, it makes them happy, and it makes the bikes new owner feel really proud too. But by the same token, don't share/tweet everything just cos you're bored and there's nothing to do! Try to limit to 1, at the most 2, interesting shares/tweets per day otherwise you run the risk of switching customers off because they'll see you as spam. Don't sit there sharing all your intimate thoughts on everything just cos you're bored and it's January, and there's nothing to do!
Whilst I'm at it, you need to differentiate yourself from the local competitors. If they stock brand X, you stock brand Y. Don't offer the same products otherwise you end up in a price war. Offer something different, at least that way whilst you may lose some sales to the competitor, you will also gain some from them for being different...
I opened my own small LBS almost 9 months ago, and it has far exceeded my expectations so far in terms of money through the till!
I'm sure you know this already, but there's the old saying - turnover is vanity, profit is sanity. The amount of money you get through the till is irrelevant unless you're making a decent margin, and if you're price-matching online retailers you have to be very, very careful. I've been doing this for 19 years, I've seen a lot of businesses do well to start with but go wrong.
I also think your rivals shouldn't be other bike shops, your rivals should be the golf shop, the gym, other places people spend money. The bike industry has a big problem with finding new customers, everyone keeps trying to sell to cyclists. Cyclists are the worst people to sell bikes to, they've already got one!
But sounds like you know what you're doing 😉
The price match thing is an as and when necessary bencooper. I totally agree with you though. I'd rather make 33-35% overall margin on £200k turnover than I would 40% margin on £100k turnover though! I'm not giving anything away, just doing the odd deal where necessary to make a (still profitable) sale.
Nobody knows it all, I'm learning (rather quickly) as I go along! Getting a few things right and learning by my mistakes too. Hear what you say about selling to cyclists, you're absolutely right, and in that respect I'd say I'm lucky as I seem to be getting a good number of first time customers, or recent returnees, which won't last forever I know so I'm making hay whilst the sun shines...
Have a lot of these conversations with a mate who has his own LBS that is going well with bikes coming and going every week but there are some things that do seem to be changing.
Wheels - when did wheels become a 1 part item, the price of a new built Hope wheel is less than getting a proper wheel builder to rebuild it sometimes!
For a hub that will last 5 or more rims it's a bit crazy.
OEM/Grey Imports -
The deals are great, the prices are unbelievable but the industry as a whole needs to look at this. When people are flogging the hottest fork of the year (Pike) at such a discount the model is broken either in term of RRP or Trade price. LBS's need access to kit at this price.
The amount of money you get through the till is irrelevant unless you're making a decent margin, and if you're price-matching online retailers you have to be very, very careful.
and this is the one that is going to be interesting, first it was CRC/Wiggle who were the discount kings, then it was the Germans, now it seems like the French are getting in on the action. The prices are getting crazier and the margins must be tiny - so is it a loss leader, is it there to attract more repeat customers or is it just trying to be the Aldi of the bike trade.
The one thing to remember is the "Where is X cheapest today" people will never be your loyal customer.
Anyway I'll just throw in a silly pic to finish...
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