Southern California - Helen's Cycles in Manhatten Beach

So, I'm up in LA from San Diego and stopped by the Helen's in Manhatten Beach as I've always heard good things about the shops...

Well, I'll have to say I wasn't impressed... I was wondering around the store for about 10-15 minutes and not one person asked if I needed any help and there were at least 3 people not helping customers...

On a better note, I also found Ted's Manhatten Cycles and really liked that shop... just felt like an old school, friendly shop.

anyway, that's my little rant...

You probably looked like you didn't need any help and the sales people didn't want to bother you...

You probably looked like you didn't need any help and the sales people didn't want to bother you...

well, I started in the clothing and then looked around the road bikes, actually spent a bit of time checking out the Helen's cross bike and then spent some time in the shoes.... I don't expect to be badgerd, but at ask me once if I need any help...

I've notice that lately, sales ppl not really asking me if I need anything...
Is it a generation thing? Maybe I'm at an age that I look like I know what I want???
Not just at the bike shops either, then I go into a Target and 2 sales ppl ask??
Maybe Target should hold classes???

I understand that it is polite for a sales rep to ask you if you need help and I don't really mind it. Truth be told when I go into a shop I would preferred to not be asked for help...if I go into a shop I almost always know what I'm looking for. If I don't know what I'm looking for, I'll approach an employee and ask. Funny thing is every time I've been in that shop they've always asked me if I needed any help.

Btw, I'm 20...so maybe it is an age thing.

Helen's is probably one of the better stocked shops in the area.

Depends on the store/business policy. The latest trend is to let the customer look around and explore on their own. Then either allow them to initiate contact or after a 'set time' one of the salespersons will ask if they need assistance or more information about a product line. Even if a customer knows what they want, the salesperson will take them to the item, ask the customer if they need more help/information, and leave the customer alone for awhile.

The major chain stores tend to set up a phone request line by their price scanners and send someone to help a customer if requested/called. Cuts down on the number of personnel needed for any particular day.

Increased sales or more impulse buying is the general goal and it was adapted from the successful business practices of other countries. Many feel a more relaxed atmosphere/environment is better and generates more positive reviews and recommendations.

If you wanted help - why didn't you ask? Nobody offered to help you, so you stormed out to rant about it online? WTF?

FWIW, Helen @ Manhattan is not the same as before. OP ,at least, you got a chance to check out Ted's Bike Shop. The selection of bikes are not huge but Manny gives an awesome work on your bike.

Old retail rule: always greet the customer in 10 seconds or 10 feet. That is, within 10 seconds of them entering the store, or if you are within 10 feet of them. That doesn't mean hover, just let them know you are there. If they need help, it gives them the opportunity to ask. I worked at a sports memorabilia store and a sporting goods store in college, and a running store in grad. school, and all used that rule.

There are a couple bike shops around town that make me wonder if I look like a leper.

If you wanted help - why didn't you ask? Nobody offered to help you, so you stormed out to rant about it online? WTF?

you just don't get it do you... see the reply directly above this, this what is normally expected. At least that's what all the management classes I've taken have said... When you work in a customer service driven business, you need to let your customers know you're there to help regardless of if they ask or not.

BTW- I didn't "storm" out, I just walked out and made a mental note....

FWIW, Helen @ Manhattan is not the same as before. OP ,at least, you got a chance to check out Ted's Bike Shop. The selection of bikes are not huge but Manny gives an awesome work on your bike.

Yes, Ted's just felt really good when I walked in....very cool vibe. They had some very cool stuff and great selection of high end frames...

you just don't get it do you... see the reply directly above this, this what is normally expected. At least that's what all the management classes I've taken have said... When you work in a customer service driven business, you need to let your customers know you're there to help regardless of if they ask or not.

BTW- I didn't "storm" out, I just walked out and made a mental note....

Surely those management classes mentioned something about "if you want something, ask for it." You should try it out, princess.

I kind of prefer not to always be asked if I need help everytime I enter a store. If I want help, I'll go ask for it, princess. ;)

Surely those management classes mentioned something about "if you want something, ask for it." You should try it out, princess.

again, obviously you just don't get it... there is at least one other person in this thread who feels as I do, not a bad percentage...

I always find it odd when I'm walking around a store and no one asks if I need help. If I need help and they ask, then I think they are at least somewhat interested in my reason for being there. If I don't need help and they ask, I have no problem saying "no I'm just browsing", and as long as they don't pester me I feel like they at least give a rip.

On the other hand, when they don't bother to ask, I'm 50-50 on whether they are trying to be polite by not interrupting my shopping experience or they just don't give a shiat.

If I were the owner I would have my employees err on the side of making sure the customer feels like he's not being ignored.

Hmm. I personally prefer to be left alone until I take it upon myself to ask for some help. But then again, the two LBS's I frequent know me enough to understand that if I need help I'll ask, as I'm usually there to either hang out and visit, or I've come looking for something specific.

Hmm. I personally prefer to be left alone until I take it upon myself to ask for some help. But then again, the two LBS's I frequent know me enough to understand that if I need help I'll ask, as I'm usually there to either hang out and visit, or I've come looking for something specific.

But I'm guessing they at least acknowledge your presence with a "Hey, what's up?" or something...

BTW- which shops do you hang at? I'm always on the lookout and since I live down the road in Poway...

But I'm guessing they at least acknowledge your presence with a "Hey, what's up?" or something...

BTW- which shops do you hang at? I'm always on the lookout and since I live down the road in Poway...
Pacific Coast Cycles in Oceanside.

What seems to be missing these days are what old fogies like myself refer to as manners and self respect. Manners in the way you would welcome a visitor into your home and welcome their presence and regard the potential exchange of goods or services and hard earned monies. You should always respect a customer's time. They are also disrespecting the shop owner and the business that they work for. If you are not willing to put the forth best effort for all involved you should not be involved. This detached sense of bs entitlement by some in the customer service field is ridiculous. And when you don't respect others it's because you don't respect yourself. And it shows. Especially by those timid woodland bambies who won't come out from the back and make a sale. Most will wind up living in mom's basement.

I think it is not a generational thing but poor management.. It seems that whenever I go into Incycle bike shop, I would get asked 3 times in 3 minutes if I need help.. If it is something specific I ask, if not I tell them I am browsing and will find them if I need anything..

Pacific Coast Cycles in Oceanside.

Thanks Frank, I'll check them out nexe time I'm up there.

Yeah, it is just polite to ask if a customer needs help, or even just acknowledge customer's presence with a "hi, welcome to _____, if you need me I'll be over there." Ignoring customers is just bad manners and bad service.

I never really liked the vibe and overall attitudes of the majority of the staff at the Manhattan Beach store. I don't know if they are bitter that they work at one of the smaller Helen's or what... You should try shooting up to the one in Santa Monica on Broadway. The staff there is great and they have a huge selection. I am always greeted at that store, although I have definitely gotten blown off or have had employees act rude at the Manhattan store.

Helen's in MB is probably my least favorite shop in the area. I've found the sales people to not be friendly/helpful even when I've approached them for help.

I'm a big supporter of Helen's I'm onto buying my third bike from them, the Manhattan Shop though doesn't have the best staff at the moment. There are a few good sales people and the manager is an awesome guy but they have some ppl working there who don't quite know what they're doing. Then the people that do know what they're doing there get really distracted sometimes. I can't say you'll get the best most comprehensive service from Helen's MB.

If I know what I need and want a deal I'll go to MB but for buying bikes or any serious stuff like fits or large purchases I always go see Andrew Mason at the Santa Monica store. The only downside to the SM store is that it can take forever to pin your sales person down because they're always so slammed.

I've found a good in between store is the Marina Del Rey store, gorgeous show room, serious staff but much smaller. The only Helen's I've been to that really put me off was the Helen's in West Wood. Long story short in my newbie naiveté while purchasing my first road bike from them the salesman didn't even take a look at me as I tested the ride, dip **** college kid or something.

As far as Ted's go I find the prices too expensive but they were pretty nice and I do hear they do good work there but they're selection is too sporadic to get my business, I just stick with what has worked for me which is Helen's.

Oh and as an ex sales person you ALWAYS ask the customer if they need help, no excuse for that, I'm surprised no one asked you because I always get asked and I go in there for no reason all the time when I'm bored haha.

I've been to Helen's in MB a few times and they have always approached me and asked me if I needed anything. The people who work there are pretty cool and nice, it's just that some of them are just not very knowledgeable.

I'm not discriminating against gender or age but there was this one older woman who worked there who had bad eyes so she couldn't even read the price tags. She wasn't knowledgeable enough to know the bikes by model so if you asked her "Do you have the Cervelo S1 in 51cm?" she's basically say "Sorry, I don't know but I'll have someone check" and she'd get one of the younger people with better eyes to check the tags. She also had bad joints or something so if you wanted to get a bike from the top shelf, she had to get one of the guys to get the bike down for her. But she was pretty loyal to me in the sense that when another lady walked with a typical "I want to buy a bike for my nephew as a gift but I don't know anything about bikes", the sales lady actually told her "Sorry but I'm helping another customer right now (me) but I'd be happy to help you when I'm done with him." I was just browsing some bikes but told her "no, it's ok you can help her" so she did help the other lady. Obviously, my sales lady had no authority to negotiate on prices (I was going to buy a bike but she just said "sorry but the price is the price").

I eventually started talking to another guy (the nice guy who was helping out the old lady) who was a bit more knowledgeable (at least enough to say "that's a great bike you're looking at"...) but he wouldn't negotiate on price either.

I did talk to a sales manager once who was pretty good but he was not working the last time I was there (they said that he doesn't work on Friday/Sat).

I really wanted to like this store so I went there 4 times in the last 2 months and they are really local for me but I think I'll just get my stuff online or at REI (if it's something really simple that they carry).

RVD.

btw, in case anyone from Helen's in MB is reading, I later left and bought my $3500 bike at another shop the next day. They could have made a sale if they just had some good employees last month. There wasn't a single employee that I saw who could negotiate with me on price. It was obvious I was ready to buy since the store did get pretty empty eventually and I was checking out the bike. At least if any of the 2 employees I spoke to went to a higher up and said "hey, this dude is ready to buy but he wants to talk to someone about pricing"...we probably would have made a deal.

Oh well...

btw, in case anyone from Helen's in MB is reading, I later left and bought my $3500 bike at another shop the next day. They could have made a sale if they just had some good employees last month. There wasn't a single employee that I saw who could negotiate with me on price. It was obvious I was ready to buy since the store did get pretty empty eventually and I was checking out the bike. At least if any of the 2 employees I spoke to went to a higher up and said "hey, this dude is ready to buy but he wants to talk to someone about pricing"...we probably would have made a deal.

Oh well...


+1 I had the same experience two yrs ago. I guess there are those with people skills and there are other who are just go by the book. [ I know the prices on a bike might not have a high mark-up but personally, I would be satisfied with package deal. i.e discount on accessories]

Just a few more comments about this subject. I know exactly what the original poster experienced. I go to Pasadena about once a month and usually stop in at InCycle just to look around. Within a few minutes of wandering around, one of the staff will acknowledge my presence with a greeting and a assistance offer. Even the techs have asked if I needed any assistance. The guys at Perfomance in Torrance also acknowledge, especially the guys that were part of Circle Cycle. My experience at Helens in SM, well, I must have had my invisible cloak on! There's others like that. I guess the staff haven't been trained properly. I've noticed a greater amount of assistance offers at Lowes, Target, and Albertsons.

Drew

Just a few more comments about this subject. I know exactly what the original poster experienced. I go to Pasadena about once a month and usually stop in at InCycle just to look around. Within a few minutes of wandering around, one of the staff will acknowledge my presence with a greeting and a assistance offer. Even the techs have asked if I needed any assistance. The guys at Perfomance in Torrance also acknowledge, especially the guys that were part of Circle Cycle. My experience at Helens in SM, well, I must have had my invisible cloak on! There's others like that. I guess the staff haven't been trained properly. I've noticed a greater amount of assistance offers at Lowes, Target, and Albertsons.

Drew

I disagree about SM Helen's I always get asked, the only time I don't is Sat or Sun afternoon when every sales person is slammed and is running around helping people. I've had sub par service at a lot of the smaller shops in So-Cal, I won't name names but they didn't have what I needed, were a bit pretentious, and when they didn't have what I needed they just tried to talk me into what they had. I guess Helen's works for me because they carry all the companies I like almost, and typically have what I need.

everybody's experiance is different I guess... If I'm back up in the area again, I'll give 'em another chance.

everybody's experiance is different I guess... If I'm back up in the area again, I'll give 'em another chance.

Yah for sure, I mean I'm not surprised Helen's is a big store and I'm sure bad employees get in, but the good employees are so good in my experience it makes up for the ditzes and punks you might encounter. I'd say do yourself a favor and avoid the Manhattan store and check out the Marina Del Rey store.

I will give the Manhattan store's good employees credit and say that I've actually seen a employee treat two punk snot nosed 10 year old rich Manhattan Beach kids like buying customers for 45 min while they dragged him around the store trying BMX bikes paying their "rich grandma" was going to buy them a bike this week.

my experience with Helen's in SM wasn't too great, either ... had a hard time getting a sales person's attention (from all appearances it seemed the three on the floor were chatting up a group of guys they seemed to know that had just walked in,) and once i did get one to help me out, he was really quite short with us, rather condescending and texting on his phone the entire time we were looking at bikes and asking him questions. we went into the shop that day prepared to drop some money on a new bike, but left with a sour taste as well ... went a few blocks down the road to Cynergy Cycles (also in SM) and got exceptional service there. they will be getting our business.

Just to throw my 2 cents in...this past weekend, I was at Helen's in SM, Cynergy, and Incycle in Pasadena. Helen's in SM was packed I was there on Sat. I was hit up by at least 3 different sales people asking if I needed any assistance. I went to Cynergy and was contacted by 2 sales people. On Sunday, I went to Incycle. I was immediately hit up and helped by a sales person. I did not have a problem with any of the shops I visited this past weekend. The person at Incycle was very helpful even though i didnt buy a bike.

One thing I like about Helen's in MB...they're the only local shop that carried White Fizik Microtex tape.