Flog00

I recently restored a bike for a friend, a 67 Fastback.




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I delivered the bike to my friends bar in our village, The Famous Wonder Bar. After dinner he said, come next door I want to show you something.


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He has a storefront for rent. He asked if I was interested and he would waive the first six months rent and split utilities to give a bike shop a go.
What do my C&V friends/experts think?

Flog00

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merziac

looks perfect, can it work with winter coming, is it in your wheelhouse as a business, can you do it all yourself, just some of the question's. If yes or maybe to these and many more then go for it especially if there could be a niche.

builderguy

There's no doubt you have the skills. In my business, there are plenty of carpenters that have skills.

To run your own business is another beast. That is for you to decide. Market is a big thing.

I will say, if you have the ability, you won't be short for business, making money is another thing.

Good luck

lasauge 

That space looks pretty small, but I think you could fit a shop in there if you were okay with having a very limited stock of new bikes.

Whether starting such a small shop makes business sense is another question - how many people in such a small town are likely to want to buy bikes and have old ones fixed? Is there enough interest in bikes to sustain a shop that would depend largely on income from repairs?

rccardr 

I would not recommend the retail bike business to anyone.

Period.

Flog00

This was my first thought


I would likely not sell any new bikes, just repairs, restorations and used bikes.


I have a full time job that I must work for 8 years.


I really don't see how it could work financially considering insurance costs etc. even with free rent.

Barrettscv 

Maybe a bike coop as a non-profit.

gomango

Agreed.

Wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

Fast way to lose retirement dollars.

RobbieTunes

How much money do you have to lose?

Maybe if you sell medical marijuana in the back......

Or, simply work at night when you feel like it. No one lives forever, may as well die poor.

I respect your intentions.

Easier to take up drinking, and just think about running a bike shop. It's much less painful.

SirMike1983 

It's tough. As others have said, it's less about fixing bikes and more about business skills, good location, and robust market. Frankly, the bikes are the easy part. I will say I've seen a couple new shops make a go of it here in the VA/DC area, one of them vintage-oriented shop. However, they fix all sorts of bikes, not just vintage. Business demands it.

That store front looks kind of tired to me, but cleaning and some paint may fix that. As it stands now, it has a tired 1970s-80s look to it and could use refreshing. You also need a high foot traffic or bike traffic area where people have money. We always could use another good bike shop in this country, but it's not easy to make a go of it.

Flog00

My favorite bar is right next door!


My wife is more excited about this than I am, but she is about to retire and wants something to do.

RobbieTunes

Just put her in charge of the money, and you do all the work.
You'll go broke half as fast, and without all that yelling.

billytwosheds 

I'd find someone who has an MBA (and a few good companies they've started or run for some time) to do an evaluation for you. There's plenty of folks on this board that would warn you to walk away now!

I looked into small retail spaces around these parts for scaling out my vintage bike refreshing/customizing hobby, and came to the conclusion that it's not at all worth it to have a retail space. Other options are bubbling up, though.

What would the rent be after the 6 months of freeloading? How much would you need to make each month to break even? If you love it, and you think there's enough demand in your area to keep you busy, it might be worth a trial run (1-2 years).

himespau 

If it were free rent/utilities and you could run it as a hobby, maybe. If you're independently wealthy and want to jump down to a lower tax bracket, maybe. Other than that???

Homebrew01

You could be a millionaire running a shop, assuming you start with $2 million.

sloar

I got to know a young kid who owns a small bike shop. He turned an old house into the shop and lives upstairs. He told me it took about 4 years before he started to see any profit. And this is in a pretty large city with only one other small bike shop. He's doing pretty good now, but it was tough for a long time.

eom 

Well said.

Celloplus 

E commerce my friend. Get a great simple website and use Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. Living in a village does not sound like a densely populated area. I would say try that first, out of your garage before getting a shop.

KonAaron Snake 

Impossible to answer without knowing the particulars of your situation...costs...markets...etc., but generally I'd advise against:

The cheap new bike options...bikes direct and such...have really impacted the market for cheap used bikes.
It's largely a seasonal business.
It takes a lot of money in inventory.
You have to be there 24-7 keeping an eye on things or your employees will often kill ya'.

There's an old saying; want to take a large fortune and turn it into a small one? Open a bike shop.

OldsCOOL

Overhead. I would work out of my home shop, do classic rentals, refurbs and restores and of certain do repairs for all makes and models.

daf1009

Scott...you have gotten a lot of good advice here...let me add my bit...


(1) Do you want your hobby, which you love, to turn into a "real" job (to go along with your other job)? My wife faced this decision while we lived in NH. She does a lot of crafting, particularly scrapbooking...and a scrapbooking store (literally across the street from our house) came available. The woman that ran it lived about 30 miles away and was tired of the commute...the store was, financially doing ok. But, I asked her this question...and she realized that the fun would go out of the hobby if it became a real job...


(2) With what you do, the great restorations and repairs...do you have enough space at your house? Do it from there!


(3) Could you turn enough volume to make it viable?


(4) What would doing this "take away?" I.e. time with family? riding time?


(5) A friend of mine kind of laughs at me about my little "parts" business...he wonders why I spend so much of my free time on it, only to make a small bit of money (particularly compared to my "real" job). I tell him that the reason I do it is that it is fun...would opening this shop do that for you?


I think you could probably make a business out of this, if you really want...but...to me...the REAL question is...do I want my fun stuff to become my job?


Hope this helps...

oddjob2

When would you have time to ride?
Do you want to work weekends?
I'd say the only way to make it work is as a non-profit. Doesn't mean you have to give away anything.

qcpmsame 

Its the dream many of us have, but can't, or wouldn't take the risk. If its using your retirement money, walk away from it, not worth the huge amount of risk to you and your wife. Her being excited about running a bicycle shop is great. It could go, if you have the capitalization upfront.

Right now, its mainly a hobby you are really great at doing, if it gets put on top of your current job you say needs 8 more years, will you maintain the enthusiasm for restorations, daf1009 said this best, and burn out would be hard on you and your marriage, most likely.

All good advice above, sounds like many have thought it through over they years. I have a few friends that did/still do the retail side, traditional LBS stuff. Only one has made it successfully through the years, and its his total lifestyle, along with his business partner's involvement. If you do want to go through with having a restoration shop, the idea of getting an MBA to give you some input, or even consultation(s) is a great thought.

Or, if there is a nearby college or university, see if they have a small business development office. The instructors and students staff these operations, usually they are more than happy to talk with you, and offer some guidance. We have a good one here, at University of West Florida, my wife uses it frequently for her business. Worth looking into one if you are going to go for it.

We are both business owners, she is a financial and retirement specialist, been in business for 22+ years now. I am a 1/4 owner of a general contracting concern, military construction specialist, we have been going for over 45 years now. I have been heavily involved for 31 years now. Think it through very carefully, it is not for the faint of heart, or something to bet the farm on either. Just look at the number of farmers that go bust.....

Bill

Edit: I should add, I wouldn't do the shop, just 6 months rent free isn't a dent in the necessary expenses for getting a shop underway. Fixtures and the needed shop furnishings like a work bench and stand(s) would be pretty high. Working with a hobby stand and no counter at all is not something I would want to attempt, and it would turn away some potential customers, IMHO

Wileyone 

You would probably be better off buying the Bar.