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Wow! I hope it isn't permanent.

I ordered two bromptons from them on May 15. I've paid for the bikes, but I they said the factory was just shipping it to them on June 20.

Santa Fe Bikes website sez they're closed till further notice. -Brian_1

Don't worry. I just logged on and the website is up and running. But if you are still nervious, e-mail or phone them.

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Don't worry. I just logged on and the website is up and running. But if you are still nervious, e-mail or phone them.
The main page still has a message which says:

"We are closed until further notice"

If they are up and running, they may want to edit this.

Santa Fe Bikes says thanks guys for all the concern.

My employee unexpectedly announced to me via email last Tuesday that he was taking a vacation. That left no one to run the shop. I don't work the store except on rare occasions because I have other full time work committments. Well that left my wife and I in a real pickle, we live 180 miles away.

For now I'm considering the business suspended. My wife will come back to Santa Fe intermittently to take care of our obligations which will be met. My biggest concern is those two Bromptons coming in from England.

It's very hard to get an employee versed in mechanics (I had sent the one who just walked off the job to bike school last September) and get them trained in folder specifics and the business basics for this job especially in peak season.

It would have been very nice to have had a backup person and I was well aware of my vulnerabilty, but our best two months this year are at best break-even, so the business is not big enough to support a backup. It's a risk I just had to take because I think it is a good cause.

If any of you are anxious you can communicate with me directly at wpflem@sfbikes.com .

I will continue to consider my options, I have a really good inventory of folders and now Brooks Saddles.

Again, thanks for the concern and oppportunity to express my woes herein.

Santa Fe Bikes says thanks guys for all the concern.

My employee unexpectedly announced to me via email last Tuesday that he was taking a vacation. That left no one to run the shop. I don't work the store except on rare occasions because I have other full time work committments. Well that left my wife and I in a real pickle, we live 180 miles away.

For now I'm considering the business suspended. My wife will come back to Santa Fe intermittently to take care of our obligations which will be met. My biggest concern is those two Bromptons coming in from England.

It's very hard to get an employee versed in mechanics (I had sent the one who just walked off the job to bike school last September) and get them trained in folder specifics and the business basics for this job especially in peak season.


Wow, that's kind of shocking. I bought a Dahon Mu XL from your place and I assume the employee in question about a month and a half ago. (Actually, a Brompton too.) He seemed nice and like he enjoyed the job. I take it his "vacation" has been made permanent? Too bad.... If I knew more about bikes in general and didn't already have a good job, I'd apply! (I live in Los Alamos.)

Good luck with the shop in any event.

reid

Wow, that's kind of shocking. I bought a Dahon Mu XL from your place and I assume the employee in question about a month and a half ago. (Actually, a Brompton too.) He seemed nice and like he enjoyed the job. I take it his "vacation" has been made permanent? Too bad.... If I knew more about bikes in general and didn't already have a good job, I'd apply! (I live in Los Alamos.)

Good luck with the shop in any event.

reid

Yes Reid, vacation is now permanent. Shop will be open and staffed by wife Sandy Wedesday and Thursday. A bike forum participant was in today we are considering staffing options.

Hi Phil,

Thanks. I appreciate your assurances both on this board and also over the phone that I'd get the two bikes and the rest of the stuff I ordered. As I mentioned, I would prefer to get the items, rather than a refund. I am sorry about the problems you are having. I am also a business owner and I can sympathize. All I can say is I've gone through similar things and worse. If there is one thing I've learned, its to expect that problems will occur all the time.

Please keep me posted.

Thanks again.

Eric

Santa Fe Bikes says thanks guys for all the concern.

My employee unexpectedly announced to me via email last Tuesday that he was taking a vacation. That left no one to run the shop. I don't work the store except on rare occasions because I have other full time work committments. Well that left my wife and I in a real pickle, we live 180 miles away.

For now I'm considering the business suspended. My wife will come back to Santa Fe intermittently to take care of our obligations which will be met. My biggest concern is those two Bromptons coming in from England.

It's very hard to get an employee versed in mechanics (I had sent the one who just walked off the job to bike school last September) and get them trained in folder specifics and the business basics for this job especially in peak season.

It would have been very nice to have had a backup person and I was well aware of my vulnerabilty, but our best two months this year are at best break-even, so the business is not big enough to support a backup. It's a risk I just had to take because I think it is a good cause.

If any of you are anxious you can communicate with me directly at wpflem@sfbikes.com .

I will continue to cons

ider my options, I have a really good inventory of folders and now Brooks Saddles.

Again, thanks for the concern and oppportunity to express my woes herein.

lad if you wernt in NM adn close to me I would love to work in a bike shop. Wouldnt need much money cause ive got 3 pensions, hope you can find someone just had an idea, a good friebnd of mine moved close to you > he is a retired police sgt and motorcycle nut ,, he can talk to anyone ill email him and see if he is interested hey two wheels are two wheels

Not much that I can do to help from here (Aarhus in Denmark) but best of luck, hope you find a good solution.

That is difficult,

Once when I owned Hilton Cyclery I trained a customer to run the shop while I and 3 others went on a cross country cycle tour. When I returned two weeks later informants told me that he had only opened the shop a couple of hours a day and spent most of his time drinking beer at the local Pizza joint. There was very little money in the till. I do not think he stole the cash. He just did not bother to work much and earn any!

I learned a lesson and that was to get performance referrences from anyone before you give them a job no matter how nice they appear to be or how friendly they are. Can they produce? Will they show up?

I have spoken with you [i think it was you] on the phone and sincerely hope you find someone passionate about folders and bikes to run the place. I am in Colorado and was planning to stop in for a visit to check out bikes.

Please announce here when yo are open!!

Slim

After a good bit of thought I've decided to close the doors on Santa Fe Bikes. We are clearing up a few residuals orders and doing our best to keep our customers and supporters happy which has always been one of my main goals.

The kind of a shutdown we are suffering through at Santa Fe Bikes is hard to overcome and it shakes consumer confidence. I do not want to go through a similar situation again, ever. As I've noted previously the business has been very employee dependent and at best a breakeven operation in season. We lose a good bit of money in the off season just keeping the doors open.

The Brooks Saddle business has been really brisk, but with a very narrow profit margin. The folders have sold but only in about 1/2 the volume really needed to sustain us. The direct marketers have a very significant negative impact on brick-and-mortar dealers.

Giving up the brick and mortar shop precludes us from ordering from wholesalers and that's how it should be to keep a level playing field.

I'll probably put most of our inventory in storage and sell it via an internet route along about next Spring.

It's all been a very good experience, but I'm really happy now with the decision to give it up.

Do I have any regrets about this life venture? No, not really. Would I consider opening a bike shop again? Hell no!

damm... thats not what i wanted to hear .... If I can be of any help, please give me a call....
I understand your decision though, its awfull difficult to make aunts meat ....

If you do decide to keep the Web store open, I am more than happy to help you out and get you stuff ( like Brooks for example, but not limited to them )

All the very best ..... and dont get the idea to leave us here without your expert opinion.

Thor

damm... thats not what i wanted to hear .... If I can be of any help, please give me a call....
I understand your decision though, its awfull difficult to make aunts meat ....

If you do decide to keep the Web store open, I am more than happy to help you out and get you stuff ( like Brooks for example, but not limited to them )

All the very best ..... and dont get the idea to leave us here without your expert opinion.

Thor

Thanks Thor. I bet you understand as well as anybody.

:cry:

:cry:

Good luck and be sure to post a reminder here when you clear out your inventory - I get annual bonuses every march if you need help picking a time for that sale ;)

Sorry to hear the news that you're closing! I probably wouldn't own a folding bike if not for your shop, so thank you.

:(

This sucks, wpflem. I'm glad that you're OK with the decision to close down, but I was really hoping to see your store hang in there and begin to turn a profit, even if it took a couple of years for build-up. I give you *a lot* of credit for taking a chance with SFBikes. Most folks in this forum will loudly proclaim that the time for folding bikes has arrived, but very few of us have bet real money on the idea. Like Brakemeister said... definitely don't pull a disappearing act on us, even if the store isn't there any more.

Two things:

1. I was getting ready to buy a Brooks saddle from you, perhaps two. If you're still running sales, I'd still be interested in buying, and I'm not looking for any "fire sale" discounts; regular price, of course. If this is really more trouble than it's worth for you, no worries, I'll just pick it up somewhere else.

2. Before you box up the inventory and close down the store, what are the chances of taking a digital camera around and getting some photos that show what your store looks like? There are other stores that sell folding bikes, but I suspect that your store is one of the few (if not the only one, in the US) that is a "folding bike store". Even if you're not going to continue with the business, I think that it'd make a worthy archival record for the history of folding bikes. I'm sure one of the forum members would be willing to host the photos on a blog, maybe even Chop would volunteer to add them to his website.

With much regret, and respect,

bookish

The kind of a shutdown we are suffering through at Santa Fe Bikes is hard to overcome and it shakes consumer confidence. I do not want to go through a similar situation again, ever. As I've noted previously the business has been very employee dependent and at best a breakeven operation in season. We lose a good bit of money in the off season just keeping the doors open. -wpflem

Please don't blame yourself the loss of your business. I think it is not a simple case of 1 particular reason or another beyond something that broke the camel's back sort of thing. You are simply ahead of your time and people are simply not ready yet to drop down (to them) a large amount a cash for "just a bike" when they are conditioned to buy some decrepit old piece of junk at the local department store or have a bike shipped to them that might not be suitable for them or not even looked over by a good mechanic. My local bike shop did not close, but it did cut it's operation down to 1 employee-and it is a general not a specialty bike shop. I think it is a nation-wide phenominum. Don't worry. The next crisis will push people into a more accepting frame of mind. I was sincerely hoping you would have been able to hang on until then.

The Brooks Saddle business has been really brisk, but with a very narrow profit margin. The folders have sold but only in about 1/2 the volume really needed to sustain us. The direct marketers have a very significant negative impact on brick-and-mortar dealers. -wpflem

See? That bargain mentality at it's best and most obvious! But the Brooks saddle part of the business shows that there are people out there with good taste.

It's all been a very good experience, but I'm really happy now with the decision to give it up.
Do I have any regrets about this life venture? No, not really. Would I consider opening a bike shop again? Hell no! -wpflem

Never say never. But don't give up on writing on this forum. I have always valued your opinions on these little marvels.

It saddens me to hear the bad news. As your experience demonstrates, a successful business needs a good idea and some luck. You only had the first requirement.

Not that I am a bike business expert; but it appears to me that to survive as a specialist shop, aftermarket service is the only way to succeed. As you discussed earlier, mail order businesses will kill you on pure sales since you are at a disadvantage with regards to price.

I recall a posting in the downtiube thread where someone floated the idea of a shop acquiring Taiwanese frames and building them up to specs. Personally, that is something we would really go for. Although I am too much of a weenie to stick my neck out.

The following link is a brief article about a couple that started a "charming neighborhood coffee shop". Although the context is different, it discusses the many trial and tribulations of running one's own business.

http://www.slate.com/id/2132576/

If you are up to it WPFLEM--I understand that it might be too soon at the moment--I would be interested in reading more about the business. That is, your thought process in starting, running, and ending it.

I admire you for taking the leap into entrepeneurship; you are a braver person than me. I will miss visiting your shop this Fall. Good luck in your travels.

>>After a good bit of thought I've decided to close the doors on Santa Fe Bikes. We are clearing up a few residuals orders and doing our best to keep our customers and supporters happy which has always been one of my main goals.<<

Sad to hear that. Remember the difference between success and failure is the number of times you TRY AGAIN whether it is another folding shop or not.

Blessings!

Slim

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Brian, send me your address and we'll send you one of our water bottles.

Sandy was in today getting some orders out.

Talked with accountant today, he suggested we look to see if there might be someone interested in buying the business. It a good idea and I've always been proud of the infrastructure and the way I was able to get it set up, but it needs an owner that can either work or carefully and 1st hand oversee the shop.

Phil,

I heard from Sandy that she sent out the two bromptons a couple of days ago. I haven't received them yet. They have to go half the way around the world via my forwarder so it will be another couple of weeks. I'm really excited and can't wait.

I wanted to thank you though for sending them out in spite of your closing the store (temporarily or otherwise). Not everyone would have done the same thing. I know it was a hassle because you live 200 miles from the store.

That's it. Just wanted to say thanks and best wishes!

Eric

Phil,

I heard from Sandy that she sent out the two bromptons a couple of days ago. I haven't received them yet. They have to go half the way around the world via my forwarder so it will be another couple of weeks. I'm really excited and can't wait.

I wanted to thank you though for sending them out in spite of your closing the store (temporarily or otherwise). Not everyone would have done the same thing. I know it was a hassle because you live 200 miles from the store.

That's it. Just wanted to say thanks and best wishes!

Eric


THANKS ERIC, I hope all is well with your two new beatufiful speical order Bromptons. I think we finally got the few loose ends taken care of to everyone's satifactdion.

I am rather thrilled to have the shop closed. It was a good endeavor born of great intentions. Financial management was pretty good, there was just not enough volume of sales of folders to sustain a bricks and mortar retail operation. Rising gas prices had less impact than I thought. My estimate is that gas will have to go to $10 a gallon or above to really get people into serious ultilitarian riding. Futhermore, I think the future of folding bikes belongs to the direct marketers, Bike Friday, Downtube, Merc, etc.

I sure have a big personal collection of folding bikes now that the shop is closed, more than I care to count but somewhere in the 30's I think. I will likely sell the bikes and my inventory of new Brooks Saddles slowly through Ebay, but none before calendar year 2007.

Phil,

My bikes finally arrived from the forwarder this morning. They were in perfect shape. Sandy packed them really well. The bikes and the saddles are so cool. You're right. both the yellow and orange bromptons are beautiful. My wife and I went around the neighborhood this evening to try them out and got a few compliments. The ride is not bad at all.

Thanks so much to you and Sandy. Good luck on your next biz venture.

Cheers!

I am rather thrilled to have the shop closed. It was a good endeavor born of great intentions. Financial management was pretty good, there was just not enough volume of sales of folders to sustain a bricks and mortar retail operation.
Guess I was one of the last to purchase a saddle from you -- sorry to hear you're closing.

I understand if you're too busy to answer silly questions, but I was wondering a couple things.

One thing that puzzled me about your business was the 'mortar and bricks' part. It was hard for me to imagine that a shop dedicated to folding bikes would get much walk-in business in NM. Or is NM a happening place for biking these days? On the other hand, it might be an ideal place for an internet business: Cheap warehousing (I assume compared to the metropoli); Low humidity for storage between seasons; centrally located in respect to the coasts (more or less); and no sales tax to the higher population surrounding states. Seems like a lot of the business that you were getting was happening due to the net and shipping.

Rising gas prices had less impact than I thought. My estimate is that gas will have to go to $10 a gallon

Wait 2 years :)

I will likely sell the bikes and my inventory of new Brooks Saddles slowly through Ebay, but none before calendar year 2007.The Brooks are timeless, but won't the bikes depreciate by comparison with 2007 models?

If the Ebay fees get you down, its pretty easy to set up a basic web store these days (I've done a few for clients).

Good luck in your endeavors!

If you get back to thinking of working some sort of web based sales operation and need some design or coding done wbflem - give me a shout as I have 10 years in web design under my belt and would happily consult/advise/help out. Sorry it didn't work out for the real-world store. Wal*Mart et al have a lot to answer for...

Phil,

My bikes finally arrived from the forwarder this morning. They were in perfect shape. Sandy packed them really well. The bikes and the saddles are so cool. You're right. both the yellow and orange bromptons are beautiful. My wife and I went around the neighborhood this evening to try them out and got a few compliments. The ride is not bad at all.

Thanks so much to you and Sandy. Good luck on your next biz venture.

Cheers!

Terrific, thanks for the feedback.

Yes, the strategy was to be bricks and mortar based which allowed us to deal in Bromptons and Dahon and Brooks Saddles etc, but more than half of our business was internet based. Santa Fe was chosen because it has such a high tourist flow and we did get a good bit of traffic from visitors.

True some of the bikes will depreciate by 2007, but I want to hold off. I had quite a few bargain hunters come along expecting to pick up a bike at bankruptcy sell-off prices, but we were never close to bankruptcy. I knew it would be challenge from the first, but I thought it worth a try and it was a good life adventure; too bad it was not self sustaining in terms of cash flow.



Guess I was one of the last to purchase a saddle from you -- sorry to hear you're closing.

I understand if you're too busy to answer silly questions, but I was wondering a couple things.

One thing that puzzled me about your business was the 'mortar and bricks' part. It was hard for me to imagine that a shop dedicated to folding bikes would get much walk-in business in NM. Or is NM a happening place for biking these days? On the other hand, it might be an ideal place for an internet business: Cheap warehousing (I assume compared to the metropoli); Low humidity for storage between seasons; centrally located in respect to the coasts (more or less); and no sales tax to the higher population surrounding states. Seems like a lot of the business that you were getting was happening due to the net and shipping.



Wait 2 years :)

The Brooks are timeless, but won't the bikes depreciate by comparison with 2007 models?

If the Ebay fees get you down, its pretty easy to set up a basic web store these days (I've done a few for clients).

Good luck in your endeavors!