I'm going on unemployment for awhile. I'm retired military and have savings,so I'll be ok. Will prolly go back to my old shop in the Spring.

The DC Junction could've turned a profit if they'd been smart. First,they put it in the wrong location(not to mention how stupid is it to have a 3 level bike shop with no elevator?). Georgetown rents are $illy high,and there was nothing that made the shop stand out. We even had issues with people waiting to get into the bar next door blocking our storefront so you couldn't tell we were there. They also didn't promote it well. They had Brompton ads on some of the local buses,but it was just a name and pic of the bike. It didn't say where we were located. The cherry blossom festival is a huge thing here in DC,yet they didn't have any marketing about the special edition cherry blossom bikes we had in stock. For black friday we had a printed-out sign that said discounts up to 30% off. This when we had a stack of renewal bikes for sale. They also didn't support us as well as they should have. They would bend over backwards to support dealers,and would even transfer parts from our shop to them,but we'd have to wait to get things we needed. We would regularly run out of racks and wheel hooks. We also weren't a real bike shop. I would do monthly classes teaching folks how to maintain their bikes. I'd tell them about lubing their chain and cables,but would then have to send them to real shops to actually buy lube. We had to purchase disc brake pads from QBP because Brompton doesn't stock them. Hell,when the G Line demos showed up,we had to buy 20" tubes because Brompton didn't supply us with any. And don't get me started on my boss,he should not have been manager.

What really does me is how they tossed me out. My co-worker and I were sitting downstairs when our boss and his boss suddenly rolled in. The top guy said we were going to have "a fun little meeting" upstairs in 5min. When we went up,he read us a form letter stating the shop was closed effective immediately. The week before Xmas and they're giving us the boot with no notice.

I'm worried about the customers. We had a couple bikes waiting to get picked up,and some folks were waiting on parts to come in. One customer is waiting for a warranty part to be installed and would not trust REI or a certain local shop to do the work. They don't even have a sign in the window saying they're closed. There's going to be folks looking for check-ups and tuneups who are going to get a surprise when they call the shop or stop in.

This was my dream job. It could've been epic. Now the dream is dead.