Mountain bike shop specific venture – ideas or experiences please?

Hi, I’ve found a perfect and established bike shop in a trendy area, wondering what I could add to the idea of it being a mountain bike specific shop with something that bolts on/shares the space to make the venture work. Ideas or experiences? Cheers.

What about bike packing/camping in the shop too?

Is it urban? “trendy” & “established” = maybe they already know their punters needs.

Coffee? There is a general shortage of coffee shops.

This is intended to be a flippant response not businesses advice.

Edit trendy and established – got to be a hair salon!!!!

Up and coming area, house prices have shot up in last 10 years, too many cafés around, the established shop is only sort of established as a bike shop really.

Do one thing well, rather than two things mediocre.

if you follow the “What STW Wants”
Cheaper than Online shops in a sale
Carry more stock than online shops
Work for free
Treat every tyre kicker like a king
Provide all sizes of everything so people can try them before ordering elsewhere

Anything else?

Benji – Good point but it’s not always a good business plan for the first year. Need something that goes hand in hand, hence bike packing idea?

are you not limiting your market by only MTB specific….why not road bikes…coffee & cake, advertise in local roadie clubs and they may use you as a cake stop and come back and buy a bike

Everyone loves browsing pound shops.

There’s a good road bike shop pretty close, not worth the competition

I would be wary of relying on MTBs the market isn’t what it was. Most shops seem to be dumping the MTBs and moving to road bikes as that is where the market has gone.

What about bike packing/camping in the shop too?

Very specific kit needs and a risky mix for stockholding, but if you also went beyond MTB into road-cx ish and touring etc, maybe. MTB seems pretty flat these days and I’d want to offer more than that in a shop but a local market could still be valued and untapped. Road doesn’t need to be club/race road.

How about a film projector and a late evening on a weds/thurs for tea cake and good outdoor films. A bar license would be great. Provide a hang-out excuse, develop group ride networks etc, impulse buys and goodwill?

All the shops doing well near us are doing well because of the upswing in the road market.
if its a trendy area with good road clubs you would be best advised being a road shop/coffee shop

All the shops doing well near us are doing well because of the upswing in the road market.
if its a trendy area with good road clubs you would be best advised being a road shop/coffee shop

How about a film projector and a late evening on a weds/thurs for tea cake and good outdoor films. A bar license would be great. Provide a hang-out excuse, develop group ride networks etc, impulse buys and goodwill?

Good idea but skip the bar license and do an after work beer (BYO) night

Your bread and butter will come from repairs. Probably from really crap low end bikes. The dream and reality are often very different.

Just because you don’t sell road bike, doesn’t mean you cant sell spares and repair them.

As stated before be prepared for robo shopping! (Research off line, buy online)

Do you think you can compete with online sellers discounts?

My friend runs a shop and he says its more a lifestyle choice than making money. He also says the famous bike industry joke is if you want to make a million out of bikes, start with 2!

Having said that, cycling is the in thing at the moment and due to petrol and parking commuting is very popular. Personally, I would try and tap into that market, r2w scheme, local businesses etc

Good luck.

trendy area…. mountain bike specific…

I have a similar plan, I want to open a Skoda dealership in Knightsbridge…

Best plan to really spice up a bicycle retailer might simply be to attach a knocking shop to it, and then simply call it “BIKES!”….

Its OK you can thank me later…

Good service is key IMO; that’s what will keep customers coming back.

Sometimes, it can just be little things like tweeking the barrel adjusters on the shifters while the bike is in the stand for something else. Write “adjusted shifters n/c” on the ticket.

Also, look at lower priced bikes. It seems that bike prices have been going up and up. This scares off beginners, or steers them toward Walmart bikes. Giant seems to have noticed – http://www.bicycleretailer.com/north-america/2014/03/19/giant-usa-targets-sub-500-bike-consumers-new-campaign#.UyudkoXDX7s

r2w scheme, local businesses etc

Good point. I’m not sure of the ratio but sales of £800-1000 road and CX bikes are a long way ahead of MTBs at the moment, largely due to r2w and similar schemes.
And BYO nights, I like that, much easier than licensing.

just come back from Friday night beers at the shop, we had to stop early as the owner is off out for the evening but takeaway pizza and BVO beers is cool