Eastern Canada - Bike Shop Overload???

Hi Everyone:
I am considering to start a new bike shop in a city. The question I have is - How can a person like me determine if a city is at capacity for bike shops or is there always room for a new one that can throw a different twist on things.
My choices would be Kitchener, Guelph or Stratford. What about setting up in a smaller town close to a trail system?

Would love to hear from ya!

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Hi Everyone:
I am considering to start a new bike shop in a city. The question I have is - How can a person like me determine if a city is at capacity for bike shops or is there always room for a new one that can throw a different twist on things.
My choices would be Kitchener, Guelph or Stratford. What about setting up in a smaller town close to a trail system?

Would love to hear from ya!

----------------
Now playing: ACDC - Money Talks (http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/acdc/track/money+talks)
via FoxyTunes (http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/)

----------------
Now playing: Newsboys - Blessed Be Your Name (http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/newsboys/track/blessed+be+your+name)
via FoxyTunes (http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/)

I think Kitchener and Guelph are pretty much saturated. Don't really know about Stratford.
Wherever you decide on, you need to do some pretty thorough market research on your demographics, and decide which group is not being served. Then you need to figure out if that group needs or wants to be served. There would not be much point in putting a freeride shop in a retirement community.
You will need a substantial amount of seed capital, as well as the backing of a bank, and good enough credit to open lines of credit with distributors. The distributors will decide whether or not to establish a relationship with you based on a number of factors including location.
Don't expect to pay yourself for the first couple of years at least.
Are ya still with me?
Don't rush in to this. Research it well. Start working up a business plan. The Canadian government has an excellent on line interactive plan on their business services web site. I don't have the link handy, but you can find it with Google.

Dan gave you very good advice! Take as much time as you need to educate yourself! There are tons of resources out there for starting a small business. Remember that less than 40% of all micro-enterprises (1 to 4 employees) in Canada still survive after 5 years of activity! A lot of the businesses that do not survive fail because of incompetent, uneducated owners. A good business plan is not a formality needed for banks and business partners: it is the best way of learning!

Good luck!

Andy

Kitchener is definitely saturated with very good Bike shops.

Guelph also has a fair amount of bike shops, however none that I like. The other day I stopped in this bike store in Guelph (beside a furniture store we originally went to) that was located in the boonies. There was little drive-by traffic, there signage was poor. When I went in there were 3 guys sitting on stools with no customers in the shop ... this was on a Saturday afternoon when they should have been busy. They won't last too long.

Not too sure about Stratford.

Make sure you do your research before getting into this business. It's one thing to have the capital to start your business, however to have even a slight chance of success you either need an amazing location on a busy road, or you need to advertise a lot! Both are expensive options. Make sure you have a well thought out business plan.

Hi Everyone:
I am considering to start a new bike shop in a city. The question I have is - How can a person like me determine if a city is at capacity for bike shops or is there always room for a new one that can throw a different twist on things.
My choices would be Kitchener, Guelph or Stratford. What about setting up in a smaller town close to a trail system?


Since you mention setting up near a trail system, here's an idea I always thought was interesting... a couple of years back while in Calgary for work I saw this guy who had set up a completely portable mobile bike repair shop right on the side of the Bow River trail. He would set it up in the morning and then pack it all up and tow it away on his bike at sunset.

There are a bunch of downsides to this business model of course, including only being out there about 7-8 months of the year at best. I think it would also be challenging to build good customer relationships (being literally a "fly by night" business), and of course most of your $$ would come from repairs/maintenance vs actual bike sales. You'd probably also have big fights with the city about zoning, licensing, etc before you could make it work.

I can't think of trails in Guelph/KW that have the amount of traffic that would make this viable... however, you could always inquire with the city to see if this is kosher to set up on something like the MG trail here in Toronto. I would at the very least have bought a new tube from you about 3-4 times over the past few years if you'd been at the right place at the right time.

Good luck!

I'm in Stratford. It's a city of 30,000 with a surprising number of bike-minded people. The two shops here are strictly mountain-bike oriented. They each have a couple of road bikes in stock, but the people in the shops have very little interest in or knowledge about them:

Totally Spoke'd (http://www.totallyspoked.ca)
GreenRide Bikes (http://www.greenridebikes.com)

Totally Spoke'd has been here for decades (formerly under a different name: "Wheel Goods"). They carry a large stock of bikes. GreenRide Bikes just opened last year to meet a perceived rise in demand for bicycles and those Chinese-made scooters which do not require licensing or insurance because of the pedals on them. I take my custom to both places for things I cannot do myself, and service is usually mediocre--you usually have to make adjustments out on the road when you get your bike back from them (for examples, see this (http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=7241727&postcount=64) post). Having said that, like anywhere, most people bringing bikes in are not knowledgeable enough to care about or notice such things. The guys at both places are friendly.

I'm not a mountain-biker, but I'm told there are no real trails around Stratford to speak of. On Sundays they head out to the New Hamburg area for rides.

Speaking of New Hamburg, I recently met a retired gentlemen there in fantastical shape who races and has taken up doing repairs in his garage for people who do not want to drive to the bike shops in either K-W or Stratford. Business is booming, he said. You know what my grain-of-salt advice would be, such as it is? Keep your overhead down to a bare-arsed minimum by doing repairs out of your own home in a sizeable enough town without a bike shop.

Naturally, one cannot be certain that the ardent hordes of new bike-riders will retain their interest in this non-combustible method of mobility if gas prices keep going back down. It's a crap shoot, I guess.

Another option which you could possibly consider is buying an existing store.
There is one up in Bancroft which may still be up for sale. If you mountain bike and are going to be at Hot August Nights, then consider chatting with Clive Emery for a bit about his place.
Cheers, Dave