people were friendly, staff (including more than one female) were attentive but not pushy, shop was light and airy, stock was well laid out/labled and priced, variety of stock went from bog standard bmx to plastic fantastic mtb’s with weird big wheels.
all in all i thought i may shop there, first time i’ve felt like that in a lbs for years.
did sheffield need another bike shop, possibly not but then this may make the others sharpen their focus.
whether the newcomer will stay as bright and sharp i don’t know but i think they’ve invested a stack of money.
good start evans.

good start evans 😆

good evans above 😀

they don’t sell knee, elbow or shin pads.

On the one hand – great. It might show the J E James lot up for being the mardy smartarses they are. (notable exceptions but it’s a horrific customer experience in general).

The Bike Tree on the other hand is ace and more importantly…independent.

They only sell seat clamps in pairs too.

I had a great experience in my local Evans on Friday (chill factore – Trafford park). Needed a new qr skewer for my mtb after old hope one gave up the ghost. I needed it there and then because I was going away Saturday morning. Popped in just before they closed to find they only had cheapo pairs of skewers in stock. No problem, the mechanic rooted through a tub of spares and produced a brand new (and very nice) Bontrager skewer (I assume from a recently sold bike where the owner had upgraded at the time of the sale)

Free of Charge! 8)

its nice to here of shops offering good customer service. its that kind of stuff that keeps customers coming back

Get out of it – next you will be saying you got value for money!

The Bike Tree on the other hand is ace and more importantly…independent.

I’d have thought actually having the stuff you want in stock and at a decent price was more important? I’d buy parts from an Al Qaeda run bike shop if they had what I wanted…

I have strange occurrences in my LBS all the time.

Though I call them “customers”.

sounds like most I’ve been to 🙂

Friday night rolled in with 6 pack and left with some TLD shorts and a nice top 🙂

The Bike Tree on the other hand is ace and more importantly…independent.

Why does this matter?

Why does this matter?

There’s a longer exploration I’ve seen on this here recently, but can’t find it right now but as I recall the basic premise is that it benefits the local economy thusly:

Independent: owner is located somewhere local(ish). Takes his salary / profits and some of it stays in the local economy – he shops locally, fuels his car locally, goes to the local theatre, whatever.

Chain: Shareholders are all over the place, the profits go all over the place.

I went to three on Saturday. ( I was bored what can I say) Phil Corley to lust after all the expensive road kit I can’t afford, had a nice chat, then the trek concept store (there’s a costa upstairs) to laugh at the funny clown bikes, then to Evans who had Morvelo Jerseys in stock! ( was going to order on line that morning but got distracted). All three were staffed by people who seemed to want to be there and knew what they were talking about, all three shops were heaving ( Evans was particularly!)

Why does this matter?

Because shopoping there is sticking it too the mannnnnnnn, mannnnnnnn!

Independent: owner is located somewhere local(ish). Takes his salary / profits and some of it stays in the local economy – he shops locally, fuels his car locally, goes to the local theatre, whatever.

Perhaps – or perhaps a good chunk of his income goes to Tesco & Amazon, like a lot of the population.

It’s a nice aspiration, but I’d rather have a well stocked shop with motivated staff in a good location. If it happens to be independent then that’s a bonus, but only a bonus.

There are 3 bike shops that I use in Perth, 2 independents and an Alpine bikes. I’d rather use Alpine than 1 of the independents every day of the week. (TBH, I’d rather walk than have to use that particular independent though).

LOL @ TINAS

Independent: owner is located somewhere local(ish). Takes his salary / profits and some of it stays in the local economy – he shops locally, fuels his car locally, goes to the local theatre, whatever.

That is the logic – however, the bulk of the cash paid into the shop goes on purchasing stock and paying staff, there is no reason to think that staff (or the owner for that matter) live “locally” (whatever that means) and the money which goes to suppliers will leave the area just as quickly no matter whether it’s an independent or a chain. Much of the money paid to staff will go on rent which will leave the area pretty quick (rent to landlord, who pay mortgages to banks, or direct to the bank for the mortgage) – or food, which even if bought locally is likely to end up with the money heading overseas.

Greg Sharzer outlines how this outlook is incompatible with the realities of global capitalism in his book No Local.

As we’re indulging in an Evans love-in I had a nice experience on Sunday in the one on Deansgate, Manchester.

Only a little thing and only cost less than a few pence, but when I asked if they had any cable ties, I was asked small, medium or large and how many I would like. Had a nice little chat about enduro and then off I went.

Like I said only a very small thing – cable ties and friendliness – but still a nice touch.

Still not got a bike rack outside the Sheffield store.
“Plenty of car parking round the back,” says the big sign at the front.
I find this odd.

IME Evans isn’t a proper lbs. They never have those little bits and pieces I’m after like a Hope freehub seal or a crank bolt and they always seem astonished that anybody might want such things.

Maybe it’s because I go to the London ones, which are geared up for selling top of the range crap to wealthy idiots.

Maybe I’m just a bitter old curmudgeon.

shop was light and airy, stock was well laid out/labled and priced, variety of stock

<dundee>

Pffft.. that’s not a bike shop.

THIS is a bike shop..

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cit__xvJIMg[/video]

</dundee>

Now my experience of Evans at The Chill Factore is exactly the opposite.
Surly, uncommunicative blank eyed staff who can’t even be bothered to direct you to the relevant part of the store let alone show any interest in a potential sale.
A phone call to enquire about an Endura jersey (one of the whisky ones) was met with “no, not got them” no offer of getting any in, no offer of a pre-order.
MsD walked over from the Trafford Centre where she works to enquire about the same shirt (2 month time difference) to be met with blank looks and no help, no offer to look on the pc/till, no offer to find anything out for her. Considering Evans are an Endura stockist one would think they would have some inkling about Endura’s range of kit.

MsD is a retail store manager and so knows about customer service and how important it is. She came home fuming saying that if one of her girls treated a customer like that she would sack them on the spot.

Needless to say we aim never to spend so much as a single penny in any Evans store from now on.