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Sad news, not entirely surprised as we all know how difficult the retail market has become since the lockdown boom.
I had a bike they were selling second hand for me there a few months ago and the thought that the shop might have to close before it was sold had crossed my mind.
Hope the guys who work there find something else as they've always been great with me.
Shame. Was my bike shop of choice in my first year at Uni, when it was under… I forget where… corn exchange?
Great photo to accompany the news on their website homepage:
kelvinFull Member<br />Shame. Was my bike shop of choice in my first year at Uni, when it was under… I forget where… corn exchange?<br /><br />
They were at the corn exchange until the IRA rearranged Manchester City centre.
moved to a much smaller site in the railway arches between oxford road and deansgate
I always found them far more roady focused (after they had to move) so didn’t really use them but a long standing name in cycling calling it a day is a shame.
Saw my first and forever lusted after Klein Attitude in Harry Halls.
Bought my first MTB from them when they were up near Oldham Street.
Bought my first mountain bike from them - Peugeot Ranger in 1988.
Very sad to see this on the MEN website earlier.... I bought my commuter from there, and they looked after me well after a van rear ended me less than three weeks of picking it up.
I went into Harry Halls for a pair of tights and came out with a titanium Bontrager frame.
I loved that frame until it broke. (Keith Bontrager helped me deal with Trek about the warranty a truly nice person.)
Sad to see the shop closing they were always good to customers
Closed weeks ago, shame as was 5 mins walk from work for me so always popped in for innertubes etc, decent staff, allegedly the owner residing in Spain hadn't been paying the rent, didn't help them that the proposed expansion of Oxford road train station a few years ago was going to kick them out of their arch premises so quite a few neighbouring businesses left.
My first bike was from there too - I've owned a couple from there. They were already in the arches off Oxford Road and I used to enjoy popping in as a teenager. I can't think of another shop in Manchester with such a reputation.
I'd still have this thing, which I owe so much of what I do with my life to, for scooting about town if someone hadn't nicked it in 2008.
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I used to go in around 1991 to lust after the Marin MTBs they had back then. All grey, steel frames with different colour forks for different models. Was a poor student so couldn't afford one but scrathed that itch with an Indian Fire Trail (when alu was exotic) and a Bear Valley a few years later.
The thing about the owner residing in Spain rings a bell. Popping in over the last few years I often got the feeling that the staff, good as they were, weren't quite sure what was going on behind the scenes and looked worried for their jobs.
The biggest influence though has to be the consequences of coronavirus. During lockdown there was a massive demand for bikes but the retailers couldn't source any, I remember going into Harry Hall's over that period and for months they had less than a dozen new bikes for sale and were glad to have anything to put on display, second hand and bikes sold on order but not picked up yet were put in the downstairs showroom to make up the numbers.
Then the market crashed and the second hand market was flooded with impulse lockdown buys and the industry responded by going boutique with ten grand bikes galore, though perhaps that was because the low end market had vanished post corona?
I was in Decathlon a few months back and was amazed at what was on offer at such cheap prices and I wondered how traditional local bike shops could compete with such a high volume, small profit margin model..