General Cycling Discussion - Thinking of opening bike shop any sudggestions?

On my ride the other day I noticed that there were a lot of empty storefronts along both sides of the street. I was curious and looked into a couple of them to see how much ther rent and other costs might be. There aren't very many bike shops here in town, and the ones tat are here are on the other side of where I live. So that led me to a discussion with the wife. I asked her if we could look into opening our own bike shop on this side of town. She propmtly told me to put together a feasibility study like when I was in college and then present it to her. I'm looking for feedback from current owners, and or employees as to what I might need to look out for, and or pitfalls I may encounter. BTW this venture will NOT be a main source of income. I already have that taken care of.

first you need to see if you can actually be a distributer for your product. if you contact Trek, Specialized, Giant, etc, they may not want to have a third distributer of their bikes in the same town. i know several need a decent radius between shops.
other than the 16yo you can get to run the register, you need a few qualified mechanics. if people order their bikes and they arent put together in a decent amount of time, they will get pissed, and you wont have any customers.

ok, cool, I wasn't neccesarily going to be a distributor of new bikes, just mostly a repairer of them. I think the 12 shops (all on the north side of town) already have that covered. I'll take care of the ones that already have the bikes but don't know how to fix em. Like I said money is not an issue here, just trying to help the community.

sort of a "bike garage" then?
the same may be the case for componets too. youll have to contact them as well. I did some research on this a few months back and found out that it wouldnt be feasable with my current income to start something like this.

Hey Jcivic,

I'm currently in your same boat. I've worked in shops off and on since my first job in a shop when I was 14. Fortuneatley, I am experienced with all aspects of repair and even wheel building.

I've found a great location, spoken with some reps and they stated there is about a 10 mile radius from dealer to dealer.

My problem right now is finding an available storefront. I know the location I want to be in, but nothing is available. Until I find a place, I've opened a "Mobile Bicycle Repair" business with a friend!

L8R

In the many years since I was a bike mechanic, the business has changed to a retail-driven one, rather than the old repair-driven shops of olden times. Figure that you will need to invest something in the order of $100k for stock if you plan to become a retail store.
Now, if you want to become a bike garage, look for the cheapest space you can find, then advertize everywhere! Flyers, posters, sponsor a weekly ride, etc. Of course, be ready to work on a lot of very pedestrian machinery, and don't turn down work on those horrid bikes from mass retailrs, either. That's going to be the major part of just this kind of business.
Lastly, consider it to be a job just for you, at least at first. Nothing kills a business quicker than excessive payroll, so don't go out and hire a mechanic until you are sure you'll have enough work to keep one busy.

First, if you make your hobby a job, you may have to find a new hobby.

Second, can you afford to start a business? It takes $$$ to get it going, and more $$$ to keep it going until you establish a clientel. It frequently takes 3-5 years to get a new business to the point where it's providing you with a decent living. There may be months where the rent, telephone, insurance and utility costs will far exceed your income. Do you have back up capital, especially in the first couple of years, to get you through the slow months.

Third, are you willing to work hard? And, if there's no work, are you willing to twiddle your thumbs at the store for hours waiting for something to come in?

I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, but as a self-employed CPA I help people start businesses all the time. Most come in with delusions of grandeur with no idea how hard the first few years are, and what kind of tax and bookkeeping issues must be addressed. Being self-employed is about more than selling a product or service and collecting money.

I suggest you find a CPA who can help you with the "official" filings - sales taxes, ID #s and bookkeeping system - and can explain the tax ramifications of being self-employed.

Good luck.

In Montréal, there are very few shops that specialise in repairs rather than sell new bikes, but the one I patronize often is not only good at that, but it also doesn't frown on repairing old bikes. Being a satisfied customer of Bicycletterie J.R. on Rachel Street (Montréal), I'll give you a few clues:

- Location : in a central and older neighbourhood, where distances are such that many people travel on foot, bike or bus, rather than by car. It's located on one of the main bike "paths", meaning good visibility.

- They rent bikes, trailerbikes and trailers. It's not too far from downtown and tourist areas. It's too far, I think, for tourists who come on their own to a downtown hotel or B&Bs, but it's convenient for people who come to visit a relative in Montréal might be tempted to rent a bike and visit downtown, the Old Port, the mountain, etc.

- They store bikes for the Winter (it's a neighbourhood with many tenants). It's a nice way to keep some business during the very calm Winter months and also to get a semi-captive clientèle in the Spring.

- They collect old bike parts. Not antiques (AFAIK), but parts for bikes that were new in 1960 or 1970..

- They like to make old bikes work. Bring them an old 1970 Peugeot and try to rig it for 7-speed and 700c wheels with second-hand parts, and you could do things on the cheap.

- They sell used bikes -- either former rentals or bikes that were dropped off and "forgotten".

- A new service they plan to offer: winterizing bikes for those who use them year round (i.e. lubricate and grease everything to prevent too much corrosion).

Still, it's a very cyclic business. They have one sole person working there in Winter, 10-5 if it's not too cold; the have 4-5 full time workers from April to June and go down slowly to 2-3 by the end of August.

Like any other business.......work in the business and learn the industry. After you've paid your 'dues', you're free to own one. Sorry for my being so old-fashioned....

Opening your own business is a great idea. My wife and I plan on opeing a flower shop in the next five years. A few of my friends own their own businesses and they always tell me, "I'll never go back to the clock-punching rat race again."

Two of every three new small businesses fail.

Rule of thumb - it will be at least 3 years until you show any profit.

Long hours, multitudinous federal, state and municipality filings and periodic paper work. 1/4 ly sending a whole bunch of money for FICA, etc.

Worker's Compensation insurance if you have even 1 part-time employee. liability insurance, health and medical insurance, federal and state unemployment nsurance. Federal and state labor laws. Sales tax filings and sending of money.

Employees who steal, don't show up, quit without notice and are incompetent.

Dissatisfied customers. Folks who don't pay their bills to you.

Often working 7 days a week. Few if any vacations.

Yes, there can be a feeling of satisfaction from developing your own retail/service business, and lots do it successfully. Even more don't. Just be aware it is a lot of hard work with many challenging days. You need to have a solid, realistic business plan and a fair amount of capital to keep you going.

I spent almost 30 years in the motorcycle business, and after discovering bicycling, noodled with the idea of having a bicycle shop. After a lot of looking, questions and research I found it wasn't feasible where I was, but I did find out some interesting things. First, you have to be very big or find an unfilled niche. Obviously very big takes some large cash and/or a huge line of credit so that lets out virtually all of us. The niche is the easiest to fill, if you can identify it.

mgagnonlv, above, gave some good examples of what a 'niche' shop might do, including become an integral part of the neighborhood/community. Find something to specialize in that other shops within, say 50 miles, don't. Find one brand of new bikes that isn't well represented and investigate those. Used bikes can be gold if you can buy them at the right price and condition. Even better is selective consignments. People are alway needing to sell their bikes but don't have the venue to do so. If you carefully choose the bikes that you sell for other folks, you can garner a reputation for having good or interesting stuff. It can be a good way to keep people coming back to your store to see 'what's new'.

Repairs are going to be your bread and butter. If you aren't a skilled wrench, you need to become one. Go to school, work at a shop, get some experience somewhere. Even if you have the best mechanic in the world working for you, it's still your store and you will get the kudos or the blame for his success or failure. During the 'off season' you can't afford to have someone working for you that isn't bringing in at least three times his hourly wage every hour. You have to pay him, you and your overhead.

Investigate your suppliers carefully and know exactly where you can get what you need and how long it takes to get to you. You will get requests for parts and accessories of all descriptions and you have to know where to acquire them. Be prepared to do a ton of special orders. Create a method of taking and tracking special orders than is pretty bullet-proof. There in nothing worse, in my mind, than having the shop not know, lose or not make a special order that I have requested. It can make the shop look pretty doofus and not very sharp.

Create a reputation and guard it jealously. It is your calling card.

Fixed overhead costs are the single biggest factor on your bottom line, so if you can keep those to an absolute minimum you can be way ahead of the curve.

I would kill to have a bike shop, and if I thought I could do it and make a little better than break-even money, I would do it in a heart-beat. I wish you sincere luck and success in your journey. I hope you desires and wishes come true.

My wife and I opened a shop for nder $40K. We bought the building and the land it sits on and the initial product. I did all the remodeling myself, and already had most of the tools needed. I used my contacts in the industry, and did not need huge lines of credit. As a matter of fact we own everything inside the store. We also were smart and did not overextend with 4 and 5 lines of bikes and too many employees. As a matter of fact I have an occasional part timer. Meaning he is free to come and go as he sees fit. This way he can ride when he is in town.
It all depends on how elaborate you want to get initially. Do you want it to look like a REI on the first day or are you going to be a mom and pop store, that is more service oriented?
Paper work is not really that big of a deal. My wife handles it with no complaints, and everything balances out nicely. Also I find that owning a shop is really gratifying. I do get discouraged at all the "mart" bikes i se and fix but what can you do? I enjoy helping and educating customers. This is the first bike shop the town Ilive in has ever seen. I get no complaints and I have a stady customer base, and everyone is happy.
If I can be of assistance let me know.

let me restate for those of you who didn't read the above... This is not going to be a profit seeking business, It's more for my ego than anything. If it makes money...great, if not that's ok. I already have my main job. This will be something for fun as well as helping the local cycling community.

Originally posted by jcivic00
let me restate for those of you who didn't read the above... This is not going to be a profit seeking business, It's more for my ego than anything. If it makes money...great, if not that's ok. I already have my main job. This will be something for fun as well as helping the local cycling community.

So what's your point then? It doesn't take brains or skill not to make money. And I suppose you can have as much fun not making a profit as making one. You want to help the cycling community? Go out and buy all the thrift shop bikes you can find, overhaul them and give them to kids at shelters, homeless people and youth groups.

You have to make a profit just to break even, and I'm not counting your time. If you don't make profits, how do you buy supplies? Pay rent and overhead?

Everything I stated in my previous post were valid points if someone wanted to start and have a viable business, even a small hobby/community type of operation.

I don't know what background you have now, but some real vision and a plan are necessary. Where do you want your business to six months from now? A year from now? If you can have that vision, then the questions you need to ask will become much more apparent.

Learn how to manage money, if you don't already. I've seen many businesses rake in tons of cash, only to go out of business because the managers didn't know how to manage the money. I would think this is especially important for a bike shop since bike shops aren't the most profitable businesses out there.