Bicycle Mechanics - Starting Up a Shop

Ok, I know this should be in the industry thread, but it seems no shop owners/employees go there.

My question is, anyone who has started a shop, can you share your experiences with me? I've been in the "industry" for 2.5 years as just a mechanic and salesma, but am just curious what ideal costs are, and just other basic info necessary to someone who is thinking of starting up a shop.(ie, necessary capital for tools, inventory, bikes, rent, etc)

Thanks

Byron

I think this was discussed awhile back, might try a search.

Ok, I know this should be in the industry thread, but it seems no shop owners/employees go there.

My question is, anyone who has started a shop, can you share your experiences with me? I've been in the "industry" for 2.5 years as just a mechanic and salesma, but am just curious what ideal costs are, and just other basic info necessary to someone who is thinking of starting up a shop.(ie, necessary capital for tools, inventory, bikes, rent, etc)

Thanks

Byron

heheh one more shop to go too....awesome.

Why don't you just ask your boss?

If your in it for profit, I don't think this is the right job for you. It takes years of hard work to make your way up there. Ive seen too many shops close. Its a competitive business and wiht all these online stores popping up, its gonna be hard.

No, I'm not for the profit, but mainly because I love working on bikes and dealing with people. I know almost 50% of shops close in their first year, and there is a big risk, but at the same time, its awesome if you are sucessful. Bike shops are definiltye not for the money, but for the passion, which is something I've picked up from my shop.

I understand that having top customer service is key to making any shop sucessful, and I can see why my shop has done well (oldest bike shop in america, Kopps Cycles)

Go for it . Gas is going up , People want to lose weight . Its a win win situation
jar:)

these are just a couple of things I've gotten from our owner over the years:

1. you gotta have sense for business.

2. you have to know that you'll not make much money in one aspect (say, high end road bikes) but make money in other areas (say, tubes).

oh, pay the staff as little as possible; this one's just an observation, again from our owner.

Go buy a book on starting a small business, in fact the book Small Business for Dummies is a great "starter" book, it will go into all the details in a not-so-dry read (and it's fairly cheap $15-20). If after you read that you want more info there are plenty of books that go into a lot more detail.

There are a million and one tips to give out, if you want to get an idea of costs, take a peak at the costs in your shop if you can, see what the shop pays for stuff. From that you can get a pretty good "guess-timate" on what kind of inventory costs there, for employee salaries a good rough estimate is to add an extra 25-50% of their salary to the top for costs there. You should be able to get some idea on retail space by doing a little searching on the net, etc.

Andrew

Another great book: The e-myth; I wore out my original copy, so I just purchased the new version "The e-myth revisited: Why most small buisnesses dont work and what to do about it".

a bike shop needs a very good location. I htink it is critical. somewhere close and easy access to bike paths routes. second is every morning before light go and scatter tacks on those paths. have plenty of tires and tubes instock (G)

Ok, I know this should be in the industry thread, but it seems no shop owners/employees go there.

My question is, anyone who has started a shop, can you share your experiences with me? I've been in the "industry" for 2.5 years as just a mechanic and salesma, but am just curious what ideal costs are, and just other basic info necessary to someone who is thinking of starting up a shop.(ie, necessary capital for tools, inventory, bikes, rent, etc)

Thanks

Byron

I never owned my own bike shop (though I came close twice) but I managed several bike shops.

My advice is to find a small space with low rent. It will not be a good location but bicycle shops are specialty shops so once you have customers they will seek you out. Most of the shops I worked at that went out of business has nice storefronts in high rent shopping centers; when business was good they had no problem paying the high rent but when business wasn't good they couldn't make their rent and had to close. The odd little hole-in-the wall shops usually survived.

In the beginning don't hire anyone if you can help it. If you aren't willing to work at least 12 hours/day 6 days/week than you don't have any businesss trying to start a shop.

Your shop should put on rides. Slow beginner rides for new cyclists where nobody ever gets dropped and everyone stops when someone flats or has a mechanical problem. The beginner rides are a key way to attract new cyclists
who have lots of things to buy. If you have some more experienced riders than try to put on some rides for them too. Be careful about getting involved with racing. When shops sponsor racing teams all the racers expect to get all their stuff at cost and you will have trouble amking any money on this market. The first shop I worked at sponsored a national class woman bike racer; it was very prestigeous for her to ride for our humble little team. In a few seasons she ran up a tab for thousands of dollars worth of sewups and stuff then when she quit racing she just moved away and never paid her bill. This was in addition to what we paid in her entry and travel expences which we already written off. Of course it is a lot of fun to sponsor a bike racing team but it can also be a money pit.

Don't get too greedy. I know of several shops that were successful but the owner got bored and decided to open a second shop, move to a nicer location, branch off into an uproven market etc. Most of the time these were mistakes that took down the original bike shop. If business is good put some money in the bank rather than trying to expand just because you can.

I totally agree with you on all your points. I personally have the stamina to work long hours, and every day of the week. I think location is really the biggest challenge.

Thanks for the replies

One other mistake that a lot of new business owners make is not having enough working capital. I have seen people spend their last dime getting the business open, fully expecting that poeple will be rushing in the door on opening day. Then they have to close in a few months because they are starving.

Make sure you have enough in reserve to pay your bills, and eat, for at least a year. Two is better.