Originally Posted by
cyclotoine
My boss always told us that if anything is more than 5 years old, take it home, donate it to co-op or throw is in recycling...it's all about quantity and margin. 60-70% of our tire stock consisted of conti-touring plus (best value for touring and hybrid) and conti gator skins...We sold more continental than anything else...because A) they offerred some of the best value and B) the supplier offered better terms on booking and quantities and gave us pre-season pricing on conti because the volume, this allowed us to be more competitive with other shops and make better margins. As it was the owner after 20 years, working 6 days a week makes a MODEST living. The LBS is a tough tough racket and it is very hard to get good staff in an industry that pays crap wages...
Don't forget that the Big Brands have all moved into the clothing/parts/accessory business. You don't get A-level pricing on T/G/S bikes unless you carry/order a minimum amount of T/G/S helmets, shoes, clothing, tires, tools, saddles, seatposts, stems, etc. You only have room/money for so many tire SKUs, if your main bike brand ties up 60% of that inventory there's less room for anything else. So cyclotoine likes Conti, orders lots because they're good and the pricing/terms are right; if there's a T/G/S brand in the store most of the rest of the tires are T/G/S house brand. You're going to disappoint the guy coming in looking for in-stock Vredestein Retro or Grand Bois 650b Cypres tires 'cause you just don't have room/money to stock it all.
Kudos to cyclotoine's boss for turning his inventory, his living would likely be even more modest if he had twice the space and turned the inventory twice as slowly.