Sad to hear about this mboy, followed your trials and tribulations a bit on here, certainly you seemd to put your soul into the shop.
Out of curiosity did you ever try getting into kids bikes? The local, previously failing, bike shop (only one in town, several high end shops in town 5 miles away) seems to have completely transformed its fortunes about 3-4 years ago solely, as far as I can see, on the back of starting to stock Frog bikes.
Oh, and a new career- how about a decent record shop?
Open an artisan coffee shop.
Bricks and mortar retail shops are doomed.
Sell experiences, not products.
Ride-thru artisan coffee shop. Same as a drive-thru but bike friendly.
Creperie. With coffee, obviously, but everyone likes a flat pancake. Love making them too, myself.
To work for someone else in retail right now, be it a chain or an independent, I just feel I’d be waiting for my P45 the whole time.
Totally get this and I think you're right to be bold and make a clean break.
Seems the only real growth in the cycle trade now is in ebikes - and that may already be saturated with specialist retailers anyway?
Gardening appeals… Doesn’t pay well I know, but it appeals
I wouldn't be so sure....
If your at a loose end .... Spokes racing team are looking for a seasoned mechanic to go to Belgium on expenses for the weekend ......
I'm about to retire. I think I'll be good at it although the Daily Mail reading and voting UKIP parts might be beyond me.
BBSB - have you started practicing smugly saying "I'm so busy! I don't know how I ever managed when I had a job..."?
I work with a lot of retailers, across sectors, pretty much everyone is suffering. Even ecommerce pure play companies are losing money as digital marketing is so expensive and amazon is eating up everything.
A florist near me "pivoted" and is now a coffee shop/breakfast place (surrounded with lots of flowers - she still does special events) and she seems to be doing ok.
Creperie. With coffee, obviously, but everyone likes a flat pancake. Love making them too, myself.
You might be onto something here actually. There's a crappery called the Green Frog on Preston docklands, they must be doing something right because they've had a trailer thing there since at least the early 90s.
EDIT: established 1989. http://www.greenfrogcatering.com/
How about a bike themed cafe with gin and craft ales. Call it the speak easy or gin and juice. Need say 30 Covers, coffee machine, big fridge, get the Sunday road ride clubs in and that's maybe £200 in the til. No need for silly early or split up the day with a business partner. They do brekky and you do 11 till close.
Cheap evening meals like chicken in a basket, pizza, burgers plus coffee and cake (£4) jobjobbed. Big bike stand outside, track pump, few allen keys on wires, sell tubes gels tyres etc
Or go micro pub, source 6ft fridge and set temp to 9,c. Buy 18 pint beer boxes from any brewery for 90p a pint and sell for £3 = £3.50. Always rotate lines and have 8 to 10 on at any one time. Couple that with 12 gins, full on gin cocktail menu, for tha ladies obviously, big plasma with classic tdf lance, big mig, bjorn rids, pantani on the go, few classics jerseys, what's not to like.
Have big bbq specials for Paris roubaix day, pasta carb fest if there is any event sportive race etc local, get voucher codes on the event website
Sell amstel on amstel gold day,
Christ I should charge for this.
Or collect, service, valet and deliver bling for the cash rich time poor community who have big race (sportive) coming up and they can't be bothered to index their gears or change the frayed cables, pump up the tyres etc
The Ginstitute of Cycology.!
How about a bike themed cafe with gin and craft ales.
Make sure you're open Saturday and Sunday though, your weekend may be best moved to Tuesday and Wednesday.
On a more serious note if you were closer we'd have you driving for us until September. 10am start and 5 or 6 hours a day max, weekends off as our usual bloke prefers to work weekends. Enough working time to keep you amused while working out what to do.
Good luck. (We met once a Swinley on a CG organised forum ride).
The Ginstitute of Cycology.!
That.... is genius!
Or collect, service, valet and deliver bling for the cash rich time poor community who have big race (sportive) coming up and they can’t be bothered to index their gears or change the frayed cables, pump up the tyres etc
I think if you could market this, along with "competition servicing and setup", it could be a good niche.
Tricky to expand, you'd need mechanics that were genuinely on it, but I think you could charge top dollar.
From my time 20 years ago in an LBS, not sure I'd bother with those customers though...
So it comes down to how much do you want/need to earn, where, and how long are you prepared/able to retrain for it?
Left field but this morning I walked past a "self service dog wash" on the high street in what used to be an opticians shop. I guess the main skill required is being really good at getting hair out of plug holes.
I guess the main skill required is being really good at getting hair out of pug holes.
FTFY
So... Job interview tomorrow! Been a while since the last one, but looking forward to it...
Fingers crossed eh!
How about becoming a Pro Team mechanic? That can’t be that hard to get into, surely?
I don't think there's a sarcastic enough emoji that exists... But no... It's Bloody hard to get into, and then it's not just the mechanicing, but the driving of the team vehicles from point to point (whilst the riders and managers fly) all across europe etc... Nah, I'm good thanks!
I think the bike shop business is tough at the moment anyway. Seeing quite a few go over recent years and some owners admitting they can’t keep the business going with competition, the Internet, etc.
About 3 or 4 independents per week announcing they're closing across the UK from what I can see. I can compete with the internet, I can compete with my local rivals... What I couldn't compete with is austerity, the indirect effects of the 2016 Brexit referendum, and just how little confidence any of my customers have to spend ANY money (not just with me) at all right now... All factors way out of my control!
Out of curiosity did you ever try getting into kids bikes?
There's only 2 brands that anyone seems to want to buy for their kids... Islabikes (direct only) and Frog... 2 out of 3 of my local competitors stock Frog... I therefore can't, based on territory saturation!
Oh, and a new career- how about a decent record shop?
My dream was a bike shop upstairs, with a record shop in the basement, many years ago... The irony! But good god no thank you... Not now!
I wouldn’t be so sure….
I'm all ears... I like being outside and don't mind getting dirty! I also have plenty of contacts in that trade...
Seems the only real growth in the cycle trade now is in ebikes – and that may already be saturated with specialist retailers anyway?
Nail firmly and squarely hit on the head... Though I'd say whilst eMTB is getting towards saturation point, eCommuter and eCargo bikes have quite a lot of scope for growth myself... Especially with the war on the i/c engine hotting up!
If your at a loose end …. Spokes racing team are looking for a seasoned mechanic to go to Belgium on expenses for the weekend ……
Thanks for thinking of me, but got a lot on my plate at the moment... May have shut the doors to customers, but now have a shop premises to return to how I found it in order to get my 3 month deposit back! That and I've (now that I am shut of course!) got a number of good customers begging me to get their bike in the workshop before everything is out... Nobody on here works for HMRC right? 😉
The Ginstitute of Cycology.!
Make sure you’re open Saturday and Sunday though, your weekend may be best moved to Tuesday and Wednesday.
Sounds like the PERFECT establishment! I'd frequent it... However... Not a chance in hell I'm running a retail premises again any time soon. Once bitten, twice shy and all that... It's literally been years since I had a weekend free. I am looking forward to a long overdue lie in on a Saturday, possibly followed by a bike ride...
On a more serious note if you were closer we’d have you driving for us until September. 10am start and 5 or 6 hours a day max, weekends off as our usual bloke prefers to work weekends. Enough working time to keep you amused while working out what to do.
That would honestly be absolutely perfect for the interim! LOVED my summer driving delivery vans for am agency immediately after finishing uni, whilst working out who to apply to for a "real" job... My right arm has never been so tanned! Where are you based? Certainly it's not out of the question if I could get somewhere to stopover 4 nights a week in the interim...
Whilst plumbing or electrician appeal for the job security and potential income factors, the typical 7am on site starts and/or 800-1000 miles per week that all the self employed plumbers and electricians I know do, do not…
I wouldn't necessarily write it off. A mate of mine was let go during the last big slump and retrained as a spark working for himself. He mostly does local domestic stuff, has enough flexibility to ride his bike a lot and while he's not a multi-millionaire, he does okay.
Anyway, good luck with it all. I still have memories of you being kind enough to swap my tubeless tyres onto spare wheels on my ML7 at 24/12 years ago. And meeting you before that, I think, Mayhem - or it might have been SITS - where you recognised the bike 🙂
mboy, out of interest where what the shop? what was it called? Nothing more than idle curiosity, I dont work for HMRC 😉
The independent bike shops near me (Bath) seem to be doing a roaring trade. Obviously i dont get to see the accounts, but they all seem to be expanding in stock etc.
We're in East Anglia, I'm in Ipswich. You need to like riding long distances to get the ascent in (very long distances). Personal email in profile and I'll forward the job application email address to you (boss wants letter and CV by email only).
Why do folk always suggest the building trades and a quick one year course, a good apprenticeship was 4 years and a further 2 if a sparky to get approved status. A boil in the bag course may get you some domestic work which isn’t real sparkying anyway and that may earn you a nice living driving round in a shiny van. There is good money for good sparks in commercial and industrial but it does go up and down with work. Don’t expect good money or work with a one year course though, need to add some experience and away you go. But early mornings, driving and cold building sites aren’t for everyone.
