Tel's Stallion Cycle Shop Venture!

[Tel]

Well it's not easy Shaun, night work plays havoc with your body!

Not much to update you guys with. At the moment I'm trying to raise the money for all the expenses involved in getting the venture of the ground, things seem to just keep popping up! At this rate I'll open the shop without any stock!

I started a FaceBook page see link below, which I will use instead of the blog on my site, think this will help with my social networking.

Did have a boost to my optimism about this whole thing panning out well. Yesterday I thought I'd pop down to the one and only local bike shop to see how their refurb went which they told me about last time I visited about a month or so ago. I found the shop to still be stripped bare, that place will not be opening antime soon and I should be up and running before they do. I'd like to think that my place is going to be a more professional run shop but they are old hands in there and guess they must have a following. Anyway in a dog eat dog world this was good news to me

Decided on the colour scheme of the shop to be red, white and black as per my original poster. For the interior of the shop I have in mind (although open to suggestions):

Black floor - lino or rubber, although I was offered a red lino which I considered
White walls - I may have blocks of red or black behind certain displays and/ or red and black painted border around the top perimeter of the walls
Grid Wall for tools (for sale and workshop)
Black shelving unit for parts (mainly used)
I think I can have about four bikes displayed for sale which I am just going to use wall mounts for; two on the floor and two above (I maybe able to fit in a few more bikes)

Landlord has replaced the roof and electrics and will soon be re-rendering the wall.

Pictures when I have something to show you. Lease starts from 1st March.

 

[TGR]

Tel,

Good to see things progressing but i have spotted couple of problems which you would need to address -

White walls!!!! No way - have to be amber walls for the Retro look
The floor covering must be matched with the windows - so the logos match
Electric sockets should match lighting fixtures in a vertical fashion
Cables for anything should not be too long unless you are going for a more vintage look

That completes my issues for today - get em sorted!!!!

Best of luck,

Richard

 

[Johnsqual]

Couple of random small bits of advice that may be helpful - please ignore if it's not.

1) At the shop I've been working at, small accessories like gloves, overshoes,
hats and lights sell really really well. We stock Extremities, Gore, BBB, and Sealskinz.
I think it's stuff people buy on impulse, rather than faffing about trying to get a deal
in the internet. If the margins are good and you can find a supplier, might be worth considering.

2) Repairing and servicing Sturmey Archer and other internal gear hubs is good business, because many shops don't know how to do it properly, even though it's pretty easy.

Good luck, it's inspiring to see someone having a go at this.

Johnny

 

[Tel]

Helpful indeed John thanks for those tips. What to stock is a big question for me.

Richard. You're really getting into this retro stuff eh! I'll see what I can do

 

[mattsccm]

Stock. Look around and see what is always discounted and maybe avoid?
Not your line I know but for eg You never see a Marin MTB at full price.
Polaris always appears in smaller shops. Are the wholesalers particularly helpful of is it all that less wealthy shops can afford. Go Outdoors sell it so always cheaper there.
things to be aware of maybe?

 

[NeilM]

Tel, regarding colour schemes, look at supermarkets.

Love em or hate em, they know how to sell stuff and lots of it. Look at even the cheaper retailers and you will see lots of white and bright colours, especially the display areas.

Black shelving will allow the product displayed to just disappear, in addition it will show every speck of dirt that lands there.

My local independent shop, that I have used since it opened over 20 years ago, has a lemon yellow interior, what shelving there is, is cream and they also use some of those panels on the wall that allow you to hang stuff on wire hooks.

They keep a good range of gloves, a better range of shoes and almost no clothing. What they have lots of, and I mean lots, are lights and inner tubes. They also have a fair range of budget to expensive seat posts, chains in 7,8,9 and 10 speed varieties, cable outer by the metre and lots of cable inners. They have a fair selection of tyres, better than most generic supabikamarkets. They also have a decent selection of lubes from just one or two manufacturers.

Oh and they have dark blue carpet which matches the window frames....

So, in brief, keep the walls and displays in lighter colours, as darker colours hide the merchandise and tends to make the place look even smaller than it is.

One important point, and something they even do with me; if a customer orders an expensive, non-stock item say shoes, helmet and especially bike, they take a 10% deposit. They have always done this with bikes, but they told me that they've been caught out in recent years with people ordering stuff and then not returning.

If further encouragement is needed; before Dave opened his shop, he used to work out of a container which had a sort of summer house grafted onto the front of it, at a local garden centre. Everything of value was stored in the container and locked up at night, then pulled out into the 'shop' for the day. Having visited all the local bike shops in search of a Christmas present bike, with a very disgruntled 8 year old daughter in tow, Dave sussed what she wanted in seconds, by asking what colours she liked, he pulled out a black / purple Falcon mtb, with yellow graphics on, and immediately made the sale.

The bike is now with it's fourth owners and my daughter is still riding mtbs.

Very best of luck with your endeavour.

 

[vivelesalpes]

Hi Tel

It sounds like it's coming together.

I saw this on the internet - if I was going to open a retail store I'd love to open something like this: http://chasingmailboxes.com/2013/02/02/the-old-bike-shop-recyclery/

Don't worry about being the cheapest - sell on service, you'll win out in the end.

Among the things I'd recommend stocking off the top off my head are inner tubes, a fair selection of tyres for both MTB and road, lubricants such as chain oils and GT40, brake and gear cables, water bottles and cages. Buy the minimum to start with and keep a record of your sales so you can re-order from experience.

Don't worry too much about shoes and clothing as it only come in two sizes - too big and too small !

As for colour - I'd be going for white, white and more white seeing as your space is limited and see if you can get some downlighters in the ceiling - it will make the space seem a lot bigger than it is. Plus it will make the place look cleaner as no-one likes going in a scruffy shop.

I'd also offer the free use of a track pump (on a very long chain) as it will be another service you can offer that will get the punters in.

all the best

Paul

 

[Tel]

Partition removed and unit made good'ish. A lick of paint and it'll transform it! Today I lifted those tile at the front and applied some base coat to the walls.

From this:

To this:

 

[vivelesalpes]

Looks like you've been busy Tel.

Any decisions on the colour scheme and how you are going to fit it out ?

 

[legrandefromage]

looks fun - I'd do it here in Huntingdonincestershire but I have Grafham cycles nearby plus a Halfords. Still thinking about it though.

Good luck!