Setting up a new LBS

trad

Looking for opinions.

I had a successful LBS back in the late 80's, ran it for 5 years before I sold it on.

I'm thinking about getting back into the LBS scene. Have identified a premises at a reasonable rent, talked to suppliers. I'm only interested in spares and repairs, no new bike sales (too much capital involved and too much competition from the internet). The premises is in South County Dublin along the N11. Every cyclist going between Bray and Dublin has to pass the front door, excellent off street parking (free). Immediate catchment area about 4,000 homes with about 10,000 homes within 5 km.

Am I mad to be even thinking about it?

damoz

No.

Develop a good reputation for your repair and service work, and be competitive on spares/consumables/nutrition and you should do well. Alot of new cyclists around.

Get a name for been overspriced or poor service and your goosed.

cdaly_

Best of luck with it. Should be one of the growth areas in the next few years...

trad

We had a good reputation for repairs in the previous shop, 90% of our turnover, never gave the nutrition end of things a thought but will put it on the list. This will be a one man band unless it's very successful.

bcmf

did ya enjoy doing it before? Will you be open on Sunday to serve espresso and cake to Boarsdie's?
I think cycling is at a revival and hopefully with a bit off success from Roche et al on the continent it should get bigger. Tons of adverstisng and with the success of the cycle to work scheme there is no doudt thousands of cyclists out there who really dont know how to service a bike. Go for it is what I would say. But then again its not me putting everytyhing I have on the line

alfalad

The fact you are not willing to sell bikes maybe your downfall, it is boom time for bikes at the moment although how much longer it will last is the question.

But if you have a good reputation for repairs, market it right (on here and with clubs) and a good manner people will give you business. There are one or two places in town that do just repairs and seem to be doing fine.

Best of luck if you decide to go with it.

thebouldwhacker

Will you let people borrow pumps?

morninwood

best of luck with the shop.
boards.ie discounts planned? will deffo bring good publicity on here.

Micilin Muc

Go for it. It's often said that lots of money is made during a recession and it seems that LBSs can make plenty of money at the moment with the BTW scheme.

damoz

I like the cafe idea mentioned above. A cafe / bike repair combo could do well on the right route. Outsouce the cake making if time is an issue.

El Tarangu

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Will you let people borrow pumps?

And not gammy hand pumps when there's plenty of lovely track pumps just lying around?

bbosco

Seeing as you're on a major commuter route, if you could open early and late to catch commuters in need of spares and running repairs I could see that being very popular. Maybe a guaranteed one-day service turnaround? Drop your bike in before 8am, get the bus into town, pick up after 5pm and cycle on home?

TinyExplosions

It could well be a winner... my 2c would be:

Following on from bbosco, open early, and stay open late would be very handy (opening later more so than being open early imo), and also be open on Sundays -there's very few places that are (if it's a one man band job, take Mon off).

As others have said, get a good reputation and you could be sorted... repairs, consumables and nutrition are all items that people will buy locally if they're in any way competitive, and cake is always welcome

Best of luck, and be sure to post when you're open so we can cast a euro eye over the shop!

bcmf

.....bloody hell I was half joking when I said that but it seems like it could be a runner!!

DirkVoodoo

damoz wrote: »

I like the cafe idea mentioned above. A cafe / bike repair combo could do well on the right route. Outsouce the cake making if time is an issue.

+1. It would be a cool idea, cafe/bike shop, get some memorobilia or exotica on the walls. Might be an issue not having it closer to the mountains, it means the lycra brigade might not be stopping in en masse.

I went up to Avoca (the food place) for the first time a few weeks ago and was really disappointed. I've had the food before but it was the first time I actually went up myself to get a sandwich. The whole experience is ruined by the massive amount of car parking space, double parking, lazy parking, etc. It felt more like I was popping into Cornelscourt, which is fine if you are popping in to Dunnes, it's a supermarket after all, but I think a nice cafe should have a certain atmosphere. Sitting outside and not having to look at a car park would be nice.

Slightly off topic there but with all the cycle to workers there is definitely potential for a nice "cycle in cafe" and bike shop.

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I went up to Avoca (the food place) for the first time a few weeks ago and was really disappointed.

I think we all know why you went there.

CramCycle

This will pry sound stupid but you mentioned not doing new bikes and everyone is saying you should with the B2W scheme. Why not offer an order and service style possibility if raising capital is an issue. People come in with a link for the bikes they need and for a nominal fee you discuss ups/downs, you order, assemble and maybe a first free service. I know alot of bike shops nowadays are doing great because of people buying incorrectly off the web. I was talking to one of the mechanics in Think Bike and he said the majority of his work nowadays is fitting gear people buy online and cannot fit themselves or showing them why what they bought is incorrect and filling them in on what they should have gotten in the first place. The free service would pry be covered by your nominal fee, no profit really but you'll get a great reputation pretty quick if you can get the right balance and then you'll find that they will come to you for more as you (hopefully) will be a safer bet.

+1 on the Cake and coffee. It would be great although a good coffee machine can be ridiculously expensive

trad

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Will you let people borrow pumps?

Might even invest in a compressor.

I was around for Roche Senior the first time around. The idea of a coffee shop with cake for the boardsies is very interesting, probably a mountain of paperwork for planning / HSE etc.. Don't think anyone would want to be served by some one who just changed a bottom bracket. Plenty of empty coffee shops around, will mention it to her indoors as a joint venture.

The bike to work scheme has been the saviour of a lot of bike shops with high overheads and staff, I'm more with the KISS principal, kepp it simple and stupid.

Explosive_Cornflake

When I was NYC before, the had a hose from a compressor outside the shop, that way people could pump their tyres without even going into the shop. That kind of thing would be great advertising, but you want some way to secure it so it's not always vandalized.

TinyExplosions

trad wrote: »

Might even invest in a compressor.

I was around for Roche Senior the first time around. The idea of a coffee shop with cake for the boardsies is very interesting, probably a mountain of paperwork for planning / HSE etc.. Don't think anyone would want to be served by some one who just changed a bottom bracket. Plenty of empty coffee shops around, will mention it to her indoors as a joint venture.

The bike to work scheme has been the saviour of a lot of bike shops with high overheads and staff, I'm more with the KISS principal, kepp it simple and stupid.

I think it depends on the level of the coffee etc, I'm sure it could start with minimal fuss (a self serve sorta job or something, pre-packaged cakes), and move on from there if successful.

CramCycle's idea's not all that bad... if you can act as a 'middleman' between punters wanting a B2W bike, you could order them from Wiggle/CRC/Where ever, and do a setup and fit etc for the punter... maybe add a few quid on top for that service, and you've instantly got a hit on your hands, without breaking any distribution deals... would be very tempted to go to a shop like that that took care of the ordering/delivery etc of a bike at a price that's not far off online.

Or just try to get to be a distributor or Irish Retailer of Planet X bikes, then you'd sell hundreds!

ROK ON

A few free ideas.

1. Open early/close late (particularly Wed-Fri). Open at weekends.
2. The coffee/bike sop appears to be a big one in the usa. Maybe hassle but it is a hook. Worth thinking about.
3. Bike mags.
4. Cheap retro jerseys if you can find them stock them and make a return on them.
5. Bike meets from your store.
6. A repair menu from basic to advanced service.



I think you are correct to avoid bikes initially. The BTW scheme is great but piggybacking is bad business. A god service/accessory store should be capable of earning higher returns than the place that stocks bikes. At least it is that way in other industries.
The best of luck to you.

kennyb3

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Following on from bbosco, open early, and stay open late would be very handy (opening later more so than being open early imo), and also be open on Sundays -there's very few places that are (if it's a one man band job, take Mon off).

+1, as someone who works 9-5ish mon to friday, its near impossible to get something fixed during the week, and you want the bike ready for a spin on saturday morning.

Bluefoam

Nice idea trad. Are you opening on or near the N11? I'm intrigued by the location you have identified - I can't think of many shopfronts on the N11.

Best of luck with the venture. Keep us in touch when you get your premises agreed.

Captain Havoc

CramCycle wrote: »

+1 on the Cake and coffee. It would be great although a good coffee machine can be ridiculously expensive

I used to get my coffee machines for free off suppliers, they loan the machines so long as your buying their coffee so you need to be shopping around there.

ROK ON

Contact every club/bike forum etc.
Discounts on services.
Also loyalty card for services.

TinyExplosions

ROK ON wrote: »

Contact every club/bike forum etc.
Discounts on services.
Also loyalty card for services.

Also loyalty cards for Boardsies

kennyb3

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Also loyalty cards for Boardsies

thats a given with the amount we ll spend

hinault

trad wrote: »

Might even invest in a compressor.

I was around for Roche Senior the first time around. The idea of a coffee shop with cake for the boardsies is very interesting, probably a mountain of paperwork for planning / HSE etc.. Don't think anyone would want to be served by some one who just changed a bottom bracket. Plenty of empty coffee shops around, will mention it to her indoors as a joint venture.

The bike to work scheme has been the saviour of a lot of bike shops with high overheads and staff, I'm more with the KISS principal, kepp it simple and stupid.

I think it would be best to concentrate on the bike shop aspect of your business first.
That will generate the revenue stream that you need to create a business.

Going down the food route is a different business model altogether and I think you need to establish yoruself first, without committing extra capital outlay to get the food side going.
Food prep is a very tricky area : lots of legislation around it to so you need to know what you're doing.

Capture the market you know first and then build from there.

Chips Lovell

I think the advent of big online outlets make it very hard for bricks and mortar stores to be competitive on pricing. Service is the way to go for bike shops who want to survive beyond the current Cycle to Work boom. Funnily enough, a lot of them aren't great on this front, so there is a gap in the market. You only have to look at the roaring trade Mr Skeffington does here to see that there are plenty of folks out there looking for a reliable mechanic.

Location looks good and the fact that you've done it before should stand to you. Key question would be getting momentum behind the business quickly since you don't have lots of shiny new bikes to get the punters in. A year from now, there will be lots of Cycle to Work folk needing new chains, tyres, etc. It's a question of getting them in.

I like the idea of keeping it simple. If you can afford it, a good inventory of small parts might make you a lot of friends. There's nothing more discouraging than being told you have to wait two weeks for something to be ordered in, especially when you know you can get a next day delivery from north of the border.

trad

Thanks for all the replies folks, plenty of food for thought here (no cake).

IM0

El Tarangu wrote: »

And not gammy hand pumps when there's plenty of lovely track pumps just lying around?

maybe the gammy hand pumps started life as a nice new working pump before everyone started coming in to borrow it?...
yeah that really happened :rolleyes:

thebouldwhacker

Just call it '410' and your in... but please no pink.
Instead of napkins you could use sheets of paper with random Euro rules printed on them. re jerseys, if the shop takes off you could even do a boards/shop jersey and get total coverage both on and off line, sell shares on the forum, employ random 410 posters to work there, hold your own TT or sportive.... I'll stop now:pac:

Tonyandthewhale

What are you going to call it?

cyco

just bear in mind that the government is currently subsidising bike shops and ignoring new bikes and the bike to work scheme could be a terrible move. Bike shops around dublin are thriving now, and almost exclusively due to the sale of 1000 euro bikes

anoble66

maybe a flatscreen on the wall showing some cycling DVD's / best moments etc. Seating area and a coffee machine / cookies etc would be the business, few cycling magazines around - you would never get rid of people, meaning more time and opportunity for them to buy something.

ROK ON

cyco wrote: »

just bear in mind that the government is currently subsidising bike shops and ignoring new bikes and the bike to work scheme could be a terrible move. Bike shops around dublin are thriving now, and almost exclusively due to the sale of 1000 euro bikes

Maybe but not necessarily. Me too strategies well into a business cycle rarely achieve the same type of success as the incumbents.

There has been good take up of btw at this stage who knows when saturation of the 1k bike market will be.
As some people become to like biking more and more they maybe more likely to purchase an upgrade online.

I think it is indisputable that there is a need for a reputable bike store offering a high quality service plus sale of accessories etc.

Bikerbhoy

On a serious note just be careful on the service you decide to offer for repairs etc as you will need to meet or indeed better your service turnaround for word of mouth to get around which as we all know is priceless

The last thing you want is for you to be taking longer then advertised or indeed saying ''Ah have to order parts could be a week or two'' or ''Im full up til next week''...no good.

From one of your earlier posts you say this is going to be a one man operation...If I may, I suggest you do a time management exercise on this taking many factors into account.
General servicing whereby you take bike for a day or two are fine you should get to them ok provided you dont take too much on.. but can you also do on the spot repairs aswell like replace brake pads . fix / replace a tube swap over a set of tyres these are things people expect to be done on the spot now, not forgetting the bike thats due to be collected in an hour that you havent replaced brake and gear cables on yet,because this girl begged you to true her buckled wheel so she could get to work on time and not get the sack from her new job I could go on the the heart wrenching stories..BUT...this is all in a days work


N11... great location for .... Cyclists on training spins who mainly do their own maintenance for the most part BUT is there enough of the type of customer you really want being general commuter types who know little or nothing about bikes, Im not sure.

Sorry about the negatives but thats the advantage of boards.ie ,I would appreciate same if I was in your position

PS I work in a bike shop and the expectations of the cycling public today are far more demanding than that of the not to distant past, believe me.

petethedrummer

I would sell bikes in the €1000 and under price bracket. They ran out of alot bikes in that price range last year. Heard from a bike shop owner recently that they're still flying out the door this year.

Two people I know who have recently bought bikes had to wait for their bike to be ordered in, so you may not have to have an enormous amount of stock in store. Just enough to get people sized up.

Mr.Boots

Was thinking about doing this on N11 route also (further south) and include a coffee/food area into the shop with covered outside seating for those who cant be seperated from their bike

ckeego

Trad..
An excellent idea. If you want a hand with the espresso and cake side of things on a Sat/Sun, I know the very person. Give me a PM if you are interested

shaungil

What flavour muffins will be for sale? My outlaws are based in wicklow and travel this route on the bike very regularly. Muffin choice is imperative.

mike12

Hi,
Think its a great idea but would not rule out selling the bikes thru the bikes to work scheme a lot of people see something on the Web that they cant buy in the bikes to work scheme if you provided a service around that it would be a way for them to get the bike they want around the same price and get it on the bikes to work scheme plus u would always get the service of that bike, if people could come in and say i have seen this bike will u order it for me u add on a few quid to the delivery price and they get it on the bikes to work scheme no real capital outlay for u and they get the internet price.
Mike

Beasty

shaungil wrote: »

What flavour muffins will be for sale? My outlaws are based in wicklow and travel this route on the bike very regularly. Muffin choice is imperative.

Muffins .... mmmmm

White chocolate and raspberry will be fuelling me up for tonight's Swords race shaungil.

levi

damoz wrote: »

I like the cafe idea mentioned above. A cafe / bike repair combo could do well on the right route. Outsouce the cake making if time is an issue.

You'd be surprised! We were in a really nice cafe/bike shop in Australia, great coffee and you got to browse the bikes after!

Lumen

Don't know much about the N11, I tend to avoid it due to the reputation of homicidal bus/coach drivers and for fear of ending up on a motorway.

I guess you would get the commuter traffic though.

I think it's difficult to be all things to all people, but if focusing on repairs/servicing a "man in a van" option would be good.

Not sure I get the idea of a cafe without any bike porn. There's no point having a captive audience if there's nothing to sell them.

abcdggs

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I went up to Avoca (the food place) for the first time a few weeks ago

trad

Folks, thanks for all the encouragement. I'm going to put it on ice for 2 weeks because a very good job I applied for in February has just called me in for interview in 2 weeks time. I got the call today.

So I'm going to take all your suggestions on board and will await the outcome of the interview. I'd go for the LBS option but the family would prefer the security of permanent employment (cake every week).

I'll keep you posted.

Trad.

tomasrojo

I don't think anyone else has posted this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/may/26/cyclists-coffe-shops

Why coffee, cake and cycling make natural partners

[...] the latest micro-trend in cycling is precisely that: the cyclists' cafe.