Is there still a demand for bike shops?

bikebusiness

I've had this wild idea of setting up a new bike shop in Dublin. Not because it's a particular passion of mine but mostly because I see an opportunity in the market. Or at least I think!

I'm a casual cyclist who cycles in and out of work every day and noticed that there's no bicycle shop near where I live. The nearest one is over 3km away! I don't want to say exactly where I live but it wouldn't be the most populous of areas. It's on the outskirts of the city but would be near (but not on) a busy enough road that gets a lot of cyclists commuting to work.

The main reason I thought it could be a runner is that I needed to repair my bike a short while ago and had to pop it into my car and drive 3km to get it fixed. Now I don't know much about repairs but I can always learn as well as hire someone in the know.

Would a shop of this kind be feasible in the age of online shopping? Do you find yourselves going into your local bike shop less and less?

Pat D. Almighty

Good luck with your idea. More bike shops the better in my opinion.

cletus

bikebusiness wrote: »

I've had this wild idea of setting up a new bike shop in Dublin. Not because it's a particular passion of mine but mostly because I see an opportunity in the market. Or at least I think!

I'm a casual cyclist who cycles in and out of work every day and noticed that there's no bicycle shop near where I live. The nearest one is over 3km away! I don't want to say exactly where I live but it wouldn't be the most populous of areas. It's on the outskirts of the city but would be near (but not on) a busy enough road that gets a lot of cyclists commuting to work.

The main reason I thought it could be a runner is that I needed to repair my bike a short while ago and had to pop it into my car and drive 3km to get it fixed. Now I don't know much about repairs but I can always learn as well as hire someone in the know.

Would a shop of this kind be feasible in the age of online shopping? Do you find yourselves going into your local bike shop less and less?

Are you talking about just bike repairs, or selling bikes as well?

Tbh, if you have to bring your bike somewhere to be repaired, opening a bike repair business mightn't be the best option. If you hire on a bike mechanic, remember you've to pay his wages as well as your own

retalivity

Not sure where in Dublin you are but there's been an explosion of new bike shops in the last few years. I'm in D8 and there's at least 10 within a 3km radius of me, although that would include the city centre.

There will always be a need for them - can't service a bike online, and most people dont want to do anything more complicated than change a tyre, and plenty don't/can't do that either.

bikebusiness

cletus wrote: »

Are you talking about just bike repairs, or selling bikes as well?

Tbh, if you have to bring your bike somewhere to be repaired, opening a bike repair business mightn't be the best option. If you hire on a bike mechanic, remember you've to pay his wages as well as your own

I'm looking at a particular unit which is relatively small so I wouldn't be relying solely on bike sales as I wouldn't have the space to accommodate that many bikes. I think bike repairs is where the money is as it's a recurring expense for all cyclists. That person who drops their bike in with a flat tyre may also think of buying a new headlamp or even upgrade their bike which they otherwise may not have if they hadn't stepped foot into the shop.

I figure the bike mechanic could double as a salesperson as well. I would probably need a minimum of 2 staff at any time - one dedicated salesperson and a mechanic who may spend 50% or more of the day in the back room. Always need someone to cover for toilet breaks, lunch etc. anyway.

If you mean me personally brining my bike to get repaired being a sign that I shouldn't open a bike sales and repair shop, I just meant that I would much rather spend €20 to have someone else do replace a tyre instead of wasting an hour trying to get it back on the rim!

retalivity wrote: »

Not sure where in Dublin you are but there's been an explosion of new bike shops in the last few years. I'm in D8 and there's at least 10 within a 3km radius of me, although that would include the city centre.

There will always be a need for them - can't service a bike online, and most people dont want to do anything more complicated than change a tyre, and plenty don't/can't do that ether.

That's what I thought and given that there's none in a 3km radius of me I saw a market. My only fear is that the population isn't there to sustain it. I may be relying a lot on people diverging from the nearest two busier roads that are 100m and 500m away.

cletus

Look, as others have said, there's always need for bike shops, and good mechanics.

Your comment that you wouldn't be great at repairs, but you'd learn threw me a bit.

If you go ahead with it, best of luck

mvt

No offense but going by what you are saying I'd say the best way for you to make a small fortune is to start off with a large one.

07Lapierre

A bike repair shop (in the right location) combined with a coffee shop would, in my view be a goldmine!

But like most business ideas, the cost of rent and insurance knocks the stuffing out of any goldmine potential.

As someone who loves cycling and coffee..if I had my own bike/coffee shop, I’d have no time to actually cycle as I’d be too busy working for the landlord/ insurance company!

Mr. Cats

07Lapierre wrote: »

A bike repair shop (in the right location) combined with a coffee shop would, in my view be a goldmine!

But like most business ideas, the cost of rent and insurance knocks the stuffing out of any goldmine potential.

As someone who loves cycling and coffee..if I had my own bike/coffee shop, I’d have no time to actually cycle as I’d be too busy working for the landlord/ insurance company!

DLB cycles in Dun Laoghaire have gone this direction in last few weeks. New unit a few doors away from old shop. Coffee shop at front, bike shop at rear. There’s a lane to the side so you don’t have to roll your in-need-of-repair jaloppy through the nice clean and cool coffee section.

Looks good I must say & best of luck to them with it.

CantGetNoSleep

I don't live in Dublin so can't say the same applies there, but I find around me a lot of bike shops are only interested in making the margin from sales and have no interest in repairs.

Some of them are still saying (post the covid rush) that they will only do repairs on bikes bought there.

Where I live at least, there is a definite gap in the market for a primarily repairs focused business. Of my four bikes I bought one second hand, one online and built it up myself (albeit from a small shop), and the other two from separate shops at least an hour's drive away (one an impulse buy as I was passing, the other because it is where I got the best price on a specific bike I wanted).

In that time I've never found a shop local to me that is happy to just work on the bikes - I'm lazy and not great mechanically so such a shop would do well from me

ednwireland

bikebusiness wrote: »

I'm a casual cyclist who cycles in and out of work every day and noticed that there's no bicycle shop near where I live. The nearest one is over 3km away! I

my nearest bike shop is 45km away:rolleyes:

wasnt there someone round dublin doing mobile bike maintenance a few years ago ?

riclad

I would have thought the cost of rents in small shops might fall
as many retail units have closed down in the last year.
i have read articles about biking booming since covid,
is safer to cycle than get on a crowded bus.
more people buying bikes than ever before , biking is trendy now.
everyone needs to exercise at some point.
more people working from home.

Chevy RV

No offense but going by what you are saying I'd say the best way for you to make a small fortune is to start off with a large one

Well said. The fast buck is in Sales.

I don't live in Dublin so can't say the same applies there, but I find around me a lot of bike shops are only interested in making the margin from sales and have no interest in repairs.

Some of them are still saying (post the covid rush) that they will only do repairs on bikes bought there.

....I wonder why? The easier money is in Sales

If you mean me personally brining my bike to get repaired being a sign that I shouldn't open a bike sales and repair shop, I just meant that I would much rather spend €20 to have someone else do replace a tyre instead of wasting an hour trying to get it back on the rim!

....How many €20's are needed to make it viable ?
2 Wages +Employers PRSI - say...100,000
Rates say .................................... 5,000
Insurance say ...............................5,000
Rent say.....................................20,000
Phone /Internet..............................1,200
ESB...............................................1,200
Accountant........................................500
Miscellaneous /Other overheads.......10,000

All in equals .................................142,900 or roughly €2,750 per week every week.

That's a heck of a lot of €20 tyre kicker repairs.........nearly 140 per week ???????

Now see why they want sales as opposed to repairs?

rolling boh

It would seem you would need a lot of repairs to sustain a buiness as a lot of them would be small enough so profit would be slim come winter time when a lot of casual cyclists stop things might be slow .With all the costs involved of course it would be hard enough but there is always a risk but with covid there is a chance more will use a bike if they back to work .I would love it to work out for you took the plunge but its not my money at stake .

JustAThought

ednwireland wrote: »

my nearest bike shop is 45km away:rolleyes:

wasnt there someone round dublin doing mobile bike maintenance a few years ago ?

Now that I would buy into! Not everyone who has a car wants to stick a bike into it & not everyone who has a bike has a car. OP - two bike shops have opened, struggled and closed in my area in the past few years - and its a fairly high net worth one.

Halfords also sells bikes and there is a lot of them about. Having zoomed about ore covid trying to get a second hnd bike to replace one knicked I’d certainly teatift that when you look there are a LOt of bike places - and a lot of people with no overheads selling a wide range of bikes from their flats/sittingrooms - with no corp tax or unit rental/insurance etc overheads.

I’ve twice brought childrens bikes to be fixed and been told it would be as expensive almost to buy a new one ! (Brake sets & bent wheels & gear issues). No doubt cycling is a passion but aside of selling and trading bikes would you mend enough of your neighbours punctures to justify the risk and pay a mortgage? Then again, best of luck with your dream. They told Richard Branson he was mad selling records out of a phone kiosk - but he proved them wrong. ( then again he had his fathers millions behind him if he failed!)

Are you going to be good with ebikes and fancy scooters too? !!

07Lapierre

ednwireland wrote: »

my nearest bike shop is 45km away:rolleyes:

wasnt there someone round dublin doing mobile bike maintenance a few years ago ?

https://thespokesman.ie/

byrnem31

I was looking at a small unit in killanarden in tallaght to rent for a martial arts club. €2500 per month. The agent said commercial property is even more scarce than the private housing market and prices are sky high. Its a renters market.

bikebusiness

Maybe I wasn't totally clear in my original post. I wasn't intending on only doing bike repairs. It was going to be a combination of bike sales and repairs. Also toying with the idea of bike rentals. I know, I know. You're thinking who would rent a bike when you can just get a Dublin Bike. Well they're not in this location and there are a few bike routes that get a lot of weekend cyclists and would be of interest to both tourists and families travelling up from the countryside, when things get back to normal obviously.

I was considering a small coffee dock as well which would certainly help the cash flow.

As for commercial property being scarce, that's not the case where I am. There have been 2-3 units idle for years. I know that sounds bad, but there are another 10 units which have been in business for as long as I can remember so there is a consumer market.

This is the kind of thing that I would be happy to just break even after a couple of years in order to build a reputation and base of customers. Initial overheads (outside of your typical wages / rent / insurance) aren't that high and the largest expense is to build a stock of bikes to sell.

Very early days and that's why I said I'd check here first before investing any money into something that may just be a pipe dream.

Seth Brundle

bikebusiness wrote: »

Very early days and that's why I said I'd check here first before investing any money into something that may just be a pipe dream.

It could well be a winner.
As a first step, I'd recommend that you look into drawing up the bones of a business plan.

AndrewJRenko

Lots of demand out there, but would require a big investment in stock and spare parts, many of which are very difficult to get at present, due to Brexit and covid.

JustAThought

You’d want to cost it out and not shrug off the key aspects like (your) salary, rent,property rates, public liability insurance, overheads - LX, heat, set-up, annual audit fees, TAX, fit-out, stock, equipment etc before you get too excited. Shrugging off the biggest costs and saying its not too expensive is a bit worrying to read. To sell coffee you need a HSE licence for H&S -
food compliance - about 3k per year - not to mention the kitchen inspections and set up/building modifications/planning application and compliance inspections.

No doubt its your dream and you have your heart set on it but as someone said having a proper budgeted plan will enable you to figure out if you can afford to run your life and family on this dream and how many cups of coffee or bikes you need to sell daily to meet the bills - before you look at paying yourself a salary.

Tombo2001

Hi

(i) be mindful of the fact that the biggest challenge for bike shops right now is scarcity of stock. Bike shops literally can not get stock. I know thats not a long term issue, medium long term to be honest its a category that is growing and growing. Electric bikes and scooters, kids bikes, all categories are growing.

(ii) Obviously a bike shop is sales and repairs. Its not one or the other. However, you are at a considerable disadvantage to other stores if you cant do repairs. At the very least you will need an in house bike mechanic from the get go.

(iii) An local bike shop is important to a point. However there are a limited number of bike brands, maybe 8 or 10 that dominate in Ireland and I would guess 3 or 4 that account for 50% of sales. If I want to buy a particular Trek model, I'll have a fair idea what the bike is - around 70% of bike shops in Dublin have websites, they all have phone numbers. If a bike is €50 cheaper in Swords than it is in my local shop in Balbriggan/ Raheny/ Cabra or whatever.....then I may go to Swords to get it.

(iv) There may not be a local bike shop, but is there a Halfords or Decathlon.

yes there

07Lapierre wrote: »

A bike repair shop (in the right location) combined with a coffee shop would, in my view be a goldmine!

But like most business ideas, the cost of rent and insurance knocks the stuffing out of any goldmine potential.

As someone who loves cycling and coffee..if I had my own bike/coffee shop, I’d have no time to actually cycle as I’d be too busy working for the landlord/ insurance company!

If thats the case then why did the one in fade street shut even before the pandemic? Seems that was ideally located but closed.

The chan chan man

I honestly couldn’t see there being enough money to be made at this to cover your costs.

Tombo2001

Weepsie wrote: »

3km is not far for a bike shop. Not remotely. Especially if it has a good reputation .

I've one that's a km away but go to one that's 2.5 km away as it's better.

I'd say I have at least 6 bike shops within 5k. One thing I've noted with bike shops is that they are all pretty good. None of them deliver a bad service. The best ones differentiate by depth of stock, & by just going that extra bit with service.

For example, on the downside there's one local bike shop that if you ring about an item they just tell you to check the website or send an email, sorry they cant be arsed talking to you. Maybe they are just too busy.

On the service side, a differentiator for me would be whether they let you test ride a bike - some do, some dont. (To be fair, that decision might be as much to do with shop location - e.g. if it was in Clontarf vs north Inner City).

Macy0161

Mechanics/ Repairs live or die based upon the quality of that service. I would think you'd need to at least some idea of whom you are getting, if that is going to be your main thing. You learning on the job isn't going to work imo. Jobs I could do myself, I pay a mechanic to do them right, first time of asking. People having to go back with the same issue kills a mechanics/ shops reputation (I've seen it myself locally).

The other thing to consider is that all those commuters may have a bike shop close to, or on their way to work. My "local bike shop" is the one 2 minutes cycle/ 5 minute walk from the office. There's another one about a 5 minute cycle. Both of these suit me far better, when not remote, than the nearest geographically to where I live. Drop in before work, collect on the way home. At least one of them has courtesy bikes, so even if it was on your commute, not necessarily beside your work.

Since I've been remote, I've used a guy with a great reputation who collects the bike, and brings it back a week later.

Raymzor

Are there many wholesalers of bike components in Ireland? Availability and fast supply is a concern since the shortage from last year hasn’t been rectified.

km991148

You need to approach this like any other business venture. Have you business experience?

The idea may be sound enough, there are lots of bike shops and they must be profitable. Some seem to lean towards bike sales and that's a very fixed pipeline from wholesale to retail (what brands etc).

Some I know seem to exist more on service and consumables (but the ones I know that do this seem to have started because the owner has passion/expertise in repairs).

Either way you need to get the numbers right!

Good luck with your findings and if you go for it!

Mr. Grieves

There's huge demand for repairs, as far as I know good shops have had long wait times since demand increased last year. They're also not competing with online for this.

There are a few mobile mechanics working from vans too. I suspect finding an experienced mechanic could be difficult.

If you can get a reputation as reasonably priced quality work, you'll have customers. I always assumed the margin on repairs would be higher than bikes/parts but maybe I'm wrong.

3km radius isn't that far but certainly in much of Dublin an area this size would support more than one shop.

WOT

There is an app called BikeFix which shows the location of most shops. Coincidentally quite handy to have when you are out and about and need a new tube or something urgently. Worth checking that out. Screenshot of the Dublin area is attached.

To the OP if you are 3km from the nearest other shop you will have an effective catchment radius of 1.5km, not 3km. For example if a prospective customer was 1.5km from you, they would also be 1.5km / equidistant from that other shop or another shop.

So let’s say you can establish a monopoly on all emergency repairs in that 1.5km radius what does that get you? Tubes, chains, tyres, hardship walk in business but quick turn. If you kill the golden goose on that day by overcharging you are quickly dead in the water.

For non emergency stuff you have got to compete on everything with every other shop within say 10km maybe even 20km. What’s the usp to win this business? Annual or 6 monthly services at a price, coffee, ???

I’ll offer 2 brands that you could consider representing to attract some all-island business.

Daccordi are not represented in Ireland or the UK to my knowledge.
Have you the expertise to sell a once in a lifetime frameset? This is a dead duck in the case of the OP surely, and secondly dead duck due to likely volume of sales.

Douze are a French cargo bike maker, up there with Bullitt etc. They will sell direct to consumers in Ireland but have a dealer network set up in the UK. Could you manage that portfolio and offer value to the consumer that they currently cannot get? Perhaps this is a good opportunity however how many well established similar outlets do your prospective customers have to cycle past to access your shop which may be in the middle of nowhere. If this was the USP of your business then located next door to the biggest current competitor might be most advantageous.

These are extreme cases. What you want is a shed full of good, honest reliable road and hybrids priced perfectly for the bike to work scheme. Can you specify those builds and have you the capital to buy full containers. They have to run perfectly through the warranty period otherwise the shop will be overrun with warranty work but really that’ll only get you so far either. If they are junk everyone will know about it soon enough. Alibaba cheap rubbish won’t make the cut in the long term.

Isla Rowntree of islabikes has been interviewed on a few podcasts, well worth a listen if you are thinking of going down that road.

Another model worth considering is that of London Bike Kitchen in Hackney. They provide the tools and the expertise and will sell you parts if needs be but the customer fixes their own bike. It works really well from a customer point of view.

Location is important. How many bikes pass by every day and what is the split between commuters and others. What hours will the shop be open and what have you to offer them to compel them stop? Look at how many pass by the bike shop at the sea front in clontarf every day, many of whom never stop, and that is a good shop, well run etc.

An independent shop in the UK recently published it’s P&L for 3 years. If you can track it down it’ll open your eyes.

Best of luck, let us know how you get on.
(Caveat, I could be wrong on any or all of the above. Do your own research)