How about using a sliding door entrance. Getting bikes through a hinged door is a PITA.

How about using a sliding door entrance. Getting bikes through a hinged door is a PITA.

This!

You do this for a living and you think that the folks of stw are first point of call on designing a successful bike shop !!!

Well, yes, I was going to say that but decided to be diplomatic 😀

You will, of course, include a large women’s specific area?? You will, WON’T YOU?!

Why not go the whole hog and make it female specific, you just need to get the marketing right – you could incorporate a popular chocolate into the name* and call it minstrel-cycles!!

*all girls like chocolate so it’ll grab their attention and put them in a good mood ready to spend lots of money!

as many decals and stickers as you can manage

Have a weighing area with various sized sets of scales. The weight weenies can paw over shiny bits and check real-world weights before shaving grammes off their current build for many £££.

You could even have a wall of fame for lightest bike to get a bit of competition going with them to encourage extra spend 🙂

More seriously:
Decent changing room
Secure customer bike parking
Plenty of parking (audi-sized bays of course)
One of those mobile banked tracks to test bikes on

Lady Gresley – Member
You will, of course, include a large women’s specific area?…

That describes some bike shop owners I have met…

🙂

As far as space is concerned – “Bikes expand to fill the space available”*

*version of Parkinson’s Law

Designer’s bike shop

.
Rider’s bike shop

.
I know which one I prefer.

Why not go the whole hog and make it female specific, you just need to get the marketing right – you could incorporate a popular chocolate into the name* and call it minstrel-cycles!!

Lunar Cycles in London started off as an all-women bike co-op, hence the name.

Why stocking ladies bike clothing is so hard.

Bloke-I want some shorts.
Shop-Here you are.
Bloke-Ta
.
Bird-I want some shorts
Shop-Here you are.
Bird-Have you got them in a different shade of black?
Shop-Here you are.
Bird-Have you got them 1/2inch longer?
Shop-Here you are.
Bird-Have you got them with 3 pockets instead of 4?
Shop-Here you are
Bird-Have you got them in a slimmer fit?
Shop-Here you are
Bird-Mmmmmm.These are perfect.But I don’t need any right now.

sliding / Auto door, wide enough for 780mm bars.

sheltered hoops outside and somewhere inside to store bikes.

Somewhere inside to rest the bike if it is being moved through to the workshop as there is always some dad trying to haggle over a £99 BSO while you are trying to get your wheel trued/brakes bled

Pump for customers inside and outside (similar to the sort found at major stations) with Allen keys for those quick nip up jobs

space to walk around
space to see the bikes preferably not just at ground level

Store tyres etc overhead

Changing room

Stock cheap, mid and expensive of all items. Lots of stores jump from £12.99 – £49.99

Visible work shop

dream bike in the window

Mirror next to the Helmet display

heat

Lights

Open late, no one goes to the bike shop at 9am so open at 10 a few days and stay open till 18:30 – 19:00 a couple of days.
Also do the sunday morning life saver shift and open 10-13:00

SPD friendly flooring!

a stool for a customer

wireless card machine

Don’t forget hooks to hang bikes from the ceiling.

Hooks must be low enough so customers bang their heads on the bikes, otherwise they’d never notice them.

Toilets, tea coffe machine, scales, some seats, and a table,large tv,s,decent lighting, slatterd or perforated window shutters, and leave some lights on at night till 22.00 so we can window shop when closed,free air pump,secure bike racks,customer/rides notice board, prices on all bikes,non tiled floor so youre not like bambi on ice when you walk or slide in with cleats, automatic doors,push button delay type,

I get the feeling a shop stuffed with budget shopper bikes and BSOs are likely to do more business than any other. Any truth in this?

dantsw13 – Member
How about using a sliding door entrance. Getting bikes through a hinged door is a PITA.

Sliding door is also easier for thieves to get the bikes out though 😉

From experience you need to design the ‘ideal’ and then a ‘what it will actually look like’ when you have 20 service bikes in, customers looking at stuff, enough bikes/stock to offer the variety you need for the demographic…not easy! Like any shop bar the servicing aspect.

Do it as cheaply as possible. No point burdening a new venture with excess debt.

Make sure the whole shop can be run by one person. This will reduce running costs. If the workshop is in the shop area make sure the mechanic can handle the till.

Ensure good sight-lines and keep small stuff where it won’t attract shoplifters. Margins are thin enough without incurring theft loss.

Why stocking ladies bike clothing is so hard.

Bloke-I want some shorts.
Shop-Here you are.
Bloke-Ta
.
Bird-I want some shorts
Shop-Here you are.
Bird-Have you got them in a different shade of black?
Shop-Here you are.
Bird-Have you got them 1/2inch longer?
Shop-Here you are.
Bird-Have you got them with 3 pockets instead of 4?
Shop-Here you are
Bird-Have you got them in a slimmer fit?
Shop-Here you are
Bird-Mmmmmm.These are perfect.But I don’t need any right now.

Jesus Christ. I appear to be a bird.

Thanks for all the input, most has been pretty useful. 😉

The shop is an established road brand/shop/thing with a different business plan, so no stacks of nasty scafolding pipe bikes, but many unique ones.

You do this for a living and you think that the folks of stw are first point of call on designing a successful bike shop !!!
Best off luck with that

Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure we’ll do the right thing, though a shop with some chesterfields, a coffee, cake and tea bar, one super niche bike and some huge tellys for the STW crowd would be nice.

It’s interesting what people say about shop interiors because there are so many types of shop – a friend owns a shop here in Montreal that is incredibly messy, he doesn’t let customers in the shop with bikes and is awful to everyone but he still turns a profit. On the other end are the SBC ‘Concept’ stores that are über clean and kind of soulless.

On the subject of Girl’s shops; there is one here called bikurious here (run by a laydee); along with more shops per person than almost any other city I have been to.

Affiliate commision from all the mail order suppliers.

Genius. Is this a thing in the bike industry now? ‘Cause it should be.

I’ll keep you updated with the progress!

Anyone know flamejob, or what the outcome of this post was?

It’d be interesting to see. Plus, I’d be interested in knowing where in Montreal the shop is.