Pacific Northwest - Bike Shop Hours - WTF?
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Why do so many area bike shops make it so hard for me to separate myself from my $$$? Closed on Sundays in September (or anytime of the summer)? Closed by 6 or 6:30? Do they not recognize that the same people who have cash to drop on expensive bikes might not be able to get away during weekdays? Maybe keep your shop a block away from the thousands of people at Fremont Oktoberfest open to encourage walk-in traffic? If I owned a bike store, I'd be open all weekend and closed Tuesday and Wednesday because then all my favorite rides would be completely empty! Rant over.
BengeBoy
09-21-09, 05:07 PM
Elliott Bay. Gregg's. Recycled Cycles. Sammamish Valley. uBrdo (Kirkland). REI.
No doubt. Counterbalance Cycles by U-Village has great hours also. Had some fun there test-riding bikes yesterday. It just never occurred to me that a bike shop 1 block off the B-G would be closed on a summer Sunday and certainly not while Oktoberfest is going on.
BengeBoy
09-21-09, 09:19 PM
If you're talking about Free Range cycle, I would personally cut them a tiny bit of slack. Very nice people, small shop, small staff, but the folks who work there know their stuff.
I guess it's a tradeoff for them about whether they want to chase every bit of business there is or give their staff the day off.
BengeBoy
09-21-09, 09:20 PM
No doubt. Counterbalance Cycles by U-Village has great hours also. Had some fun there test-riding bikes yesterday. .
+1
Nice store, nice people, nice bikes.
I'm happy to cut small businesses slack and would much prefer them to the REIs and Gregg's of the world for such a personal purchase. Guess I'll have to make a Saturday visit.
ghunter
09-22-09, 11:46 PM
We were open Sundays for our first year in business, and revenues on Sunday were about the lowest daily when we looked across all the days of the week. It's difficult to find top-notch people, and we were stretching them too thin across seven days.
Now that we're only open six days a week we can offer customers better service on the days we are open because we have the core staff available pretty much all the time with only minor rotations. My staff also really enjoy having a weekend day off where they can go riding or spend time with their families.
Maybe when we're a little bigger we'll open seven days a week.
Graham Hunter
Owner, Veloce Velo Issaquah
Bikewrench217
09-23-09, 12:24 AM
3 shops in my area.
1 is open Monday thru Saturday
1 is open Tuesday thru Sunday
and the third is closed Sundays and Thursdays.