CRC to open retail store in Belfast

doozerie

From this web page:

Chain Reaction Cycles is set to open a standalone retail store in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2011, it has revealed today.

The family-run business, which began in 1985, opening Ballynure Cycles bike shop with a £1,500 bank loan, believes there’s never been a better time to apply its wealth of customer service and technical knowledge on the high street.

Claiming to offer a revolutionary new shopping experience, the state-of-the-art store will stock a comprehensive selection of road, mountain, commuting and triathlon bikes as well as a range of components, clothing, footwear, equipment and tools. This extensive range of product will be matched by a level of in-shop customer service, mechanical back-up and technical know-how.

Jim Berkeley, Head of Retail, said: “This is an incredibly exciting time for us, transferring our years of knowledge, buying power and service to the high street environment. We can’t wait to offer customers – both new and existing – a high quality face-to-face service which will mirror the high level of support we currently provide our online customers.

"We love ‘all things bikes’ at CRC and are committed to offering quality stock and great service to our customers, enabling more cyclists, triathletes, swimmers and runners to benefit from our great value products."

C3PO

A lot of rumours circulating that they're planning a Dublin store too, in Carrickmines!

kenmc

RPL1 wrote: »

A lot of rumours circulating that they're planning a Dublin store too, in Carrickmines!

Oh that'd be nice. Finally a bike shop there! (and no, 53degrees north does not count, nor does the car accessory shop)

Lumen

Will they accept Paypal in store?

youcancallmeal

Wonder if they did open a Dublin branch would the prices be the same in store as online? Doubt it

mloc123

Lumen wrote: »

Will they accept Paypal in store?

Boom boom

dare2be

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Wonder if they did open a Dublin branch would the prices be the same in store as online? Doubt it

Yes they would if it is anything like their current store located outside Belfast at present. Bought my new Cube there 2weeks ago for same price as online and had it home with me the next day

Jawgap

Not as exciting a prospect as it should be - maybe it's me but I've found their prices have become increasingly uncompetitive over the last 12 months

C3PO

Jawgap wrote: »

Not as exciting a prospect as it should be - maybe it's me but I've found their prices have become increasingly uncompetitive over the last 12 months

I agree I've found that if (big if!) the LBS has stuff in stock then they can be as cheap or cheaper than CRC. And if price is your main concern then the German sites are usually quite a bit cheaper again!

Diarmuid

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Wonder if they did open a Dublin branch would the prices be the same in store as online? Doubt it

Do they still charge UK VAT on purchases to Irish customers?

funkyjebus

dare2be wrote: »

Yes they would if it is anything like their current store located outside Belfast at present. Bought my new Cube there 2weeks ago for same price as online and had it home with me the next day

What, i thought the store wasnt open yet. so last week you were in a crc store, and bought a cube? you sure?

Lumen

Jawgap wrote: »

Not as exciting a prospect as it should be - maybe it's me but I've found their prices have become increasingly uncompetitive over the last 12 months

Those shops won't get built for nothing.

TinyExplosions

funkyjebus wrote: »

What, i thought the store wasnt open yet. so last week you were in a crc store, and bought a cube? you sure?

The new one in Belfast isn't open, they have had a showroom in Ballyclare for ages

easygoing39

funkyjebus wrote: »

What, i thought the store wasnt open yet. so last week you were in a crc store, and bought a cube? you sure?

I was in the CRC shop last year and bought a pair of gloves.Yes,I'm sure.:D

dare2be

Aye, located in Doagh about 15mins outside Belfast. Suppose you could call it their 'head office' shop

funkyjebus

dare2be wrote: »

Aye, located in Doagh about 15mins outside Belfast. Suppose you could call it their 'head office' shop

You learn something new everyday

el tel

The outlet at the hq isnt great if you want to see bikes for they only have 5 or 6 select models of road and mtbs on display. To see anything else you'd have to let them know in:D advance so they can build it up and have it ready for you to see. If the new shop had all the bikes on displqy it would be a major improvement.

jiffybag

This is bad news for the exsisting bikeshop in Belfast and indeed Dublin if the rumours are true. They will try to put the smaller outfits out of business and have complete control of the market. BAD NEWS!

Prices will go up when the have full control of the local markets and we the consumer will only have ourselves to blame.
Think Tesco's , they are everywhere and they are killing off the smaller independant grocery stores. Their prices are getting higher every day!

CRC is an unstoppable machine!

AstraMonti

jiffybag wrote: »

This is bad news for the exsisting bikeshop in Belfast and indeed Dublin if the rumours are true. They will try to put the smaller outfits out of business and have complete control of the market. BAD NEWS!

Prices will go up when the have full control of the local markets and we the consumer will only have ourselves to blame.
Think Tesco's , they are everywhere and they are killing off the smaller independant grocery stores. Their prices are getting higher every day!

CRC is an unstoppable machine!

We are living in the times of the interwebz! One search and you ll find the cheapest product online in many many shops. It's not like CRC is the cheapest, plenty of shops around.

doozerie

@jiffybag, CRC opening a store in Belfast might have the effect of driving the prices in other local prices down, and potentially put some local stores out of business in the process, or CRC might sell instore for similar prices to what existing stores charge. Such is the nature of retail and it's that way because it is driven by the demand of customers. When it boils right down to it, CRC are not really the villain, their returning customers are. Besides, as already mentioned people can already buy from CRC right now with no delivery charges which to some people is a far easier option than making time to get to a bike shop in the first place, so if bikes shops are going to go out of business because of CRC then its probably already happening without them having a retail outlet in Belfast.

And as also already mentioned, CRC are not the cheapest online store and I'm not sure they ever were. They remain cheap for some things but they are expensive for others. And some of their prices seems to have been going up in recent months. There is no single online store that is cheaper than all others for everything, there is no unstoppable machine.

el tel

Crc started out as a local family run bike shop in a tiny village. They grew it to the huge business it is now. All the other wee bike shops could have done the same too but they didnt so if they were to go down that's tough luck.

In any case in and around belfast there are **** loads of bike shops, each doing well by the looks of things. In fact in the last 20 years they've probably increased in scale and number. In and around Belfast you have slanes, mcconveys, bike dock, Dave kanes, kinnings, hannas, madigans, bike it plus others. There's never been more local choice. CRC has not been a detriment in fact many of the above-mentioned post date crc.

imo halfords, the uk' s most prolific bike seller thanks to the ride to work scheme, is the one which poses the biggest threat for thats where the unthinking masses go with their ride to work vouchers.

Karagesh

I got a Cube off CRC last year, collected it from their HQ. First service in the LBS and the guy asked if I got from CRC due to the lack of grease applied.

LBS if you want it done right imo.

el tel

Karagesh wrote: »

I got a Cube off CRC last year, collected it from their HQ. First service in the LBS and the guy asked if I got from CRC due to the lack of grease applied.

LBS if you want it done right imo.

The cynic in me would be inclined to think the LBS chap was being opportunistic in having a dig at CRC and may have been manufacturing a chance to score points at the expense of CRC and to indirectly afirm his awesomeness.

Put it this way, anyone with an ounce of knowledge would know without even seeing the bike that your Cube bike mostly likely came from CRC, particularly a bike shop person in N.Ireland.

Furthermore, would CRC really take anything to do with greasing or lubricating Cube bikes - aren't they are just a distributor? Applying grease would hardly be their responsibility I would have thought.

And I would assume that the service was done some time after you bought the bike. By which time any 'grease' would have diminished as a matter of course.

Indeed, I would say that the LBS chap could rightly have been confident that you'd buy his line complete with hook and sinker as, with all due respect, bringing a bike to a shop to get a service does kind of hint that you might not be exactly expert in bike maintenance and all the more gullible for it.

thebouldwhacker

el tel wrote: »

imo halfords, the uk' s most prolific bike seller thanks to the ride to work scheme, is the one which poses the biggest threat for thats where the unthinking masses go with their ride to work vouchers.

Its a bit like nokia being the largest seller of camera's due to the sale of phones, cant see Nikon getting too worried though. Halfords are trying to break into the 'real' bike market with boardmans but it takes more than just stock to be a good bike shop

Karagesh

el tel wrote: »

The cynic in me would be inclined to think the LBS chap was being opportunistic in having a dig at CRC and may have been manufacturing a chance to score points at the expense of CRC and to indirectly afirm his awesomeness.

Put it this way, anyone with an ounce of knowledge would know without even seeing the bike that your Cube bike mostly likely came from CRC, particularly a bike shop person in N.Ireland.

Furthermore, would CRC really take anything to do with greasing or lubricating Cube bikes - aren't they are just a distributor? Applying grease would hardly be their responsibility I would have thought.

And I would assume that the service was done some time after you bought the bike. By which time any 'grease' would have diminished as a matter of course.

Indeed, I would say that the LBS chap could rightly have been confident that you'd buy his line complete with hook and sinker as, with all due respect, bringing a bike to a shop to get a service does kind of hint that you might not be exactly expert in bike maintenance and all the more gullible for it.

The LBS sells Cubes as well. I know how to do basic maintenance but I had an off and couldn't get the front dérailleur tuned correctly and didn't want to break it. I was there will he poped on the stand and checked it all over me. The guy came recommended from a mate who has cycled for years.

Maybe it isn't their responsibility to grease it, but they could have told me. I work in a service industry and its these small things that make all the difference.

When I was buying the bike and handing over the documents the guys seemed more interested in talking to their mates in the shop and perving over a new MTB frame than actually help me get the bike out to the car. Also phoning the "shop" was an awful experience, only one guy seemed to know anything and he was always in meetings and would never phone back.

I wanted to get a pair of shoes/pedals there as well but they lost the sale due to the pissing about. I did order the bike a week before and they said they would have it built up in a day.

dare2be

Karagesh wrote: »

The LBS sells Cubes as well. I know how to do basic maintenance but I had an off and couldn't get the front dérailleur tuned correctly and didn't want to break it. I was there will he poped on the stand and checked it all over me. The guy came recommended from a mate who has cycled for years.

Maybe it isn't their responsibility to grease it, but they could have told me. I work in a service industry and its these small things that make all the difference.

When I was buying the bike and handing over the documents the guys seemed more interested in talking to their mates in the shop and perving over a new MTB frame than actually help me get the bike out to the car. Also phoning the "shop" was an awful experience, only one guy seemed to know anything and he was always in meetings and would never phone back.

I wanted to get a pair of shoes/pedals there as well but they lost the sale due to the pissing about. I did order the bike a week before and they said they would have it built up in a day.

Mine was a totally different experience. Guys built up the bike especially, took out the turbo trainer to let me get a feel for the bike, sized me up correctly on it (not a total bike fit now) put on all extras there and then and on payment helped me out to the car with the bike. No pissing about from either me or the CRC guy, in and out jobs a good one