Originally Posted by
making
I wonder if the LBS are going the way of the Mom nad Pop hardware store. It is easy to see how it could happen, Big strore puts pressure on profits, cutback on staff, more pressure on profits, cutback on knowledgeable staff, buisness slows people buy bikes from the big box stores and dont pay for service they dont get anyway.
I think it depends on where you are. I'm in a residential neighborhood of a largish but not huge city. Mom and Pop hardware stores still do well and I could probably ride by half a dozen lbses on my way home without going very far out of my way.
My guess is that people who live in cities are a bit more inclined to pay extra in exchange for having things close by.
Department store bikes aren't anything new and the LBS has had to compete with them for a long time. I think it's the ability to get stuff online that hurts LBSes more. There's one LBS and one coop that sells used parts and they get a lot of my business. It's much more convenient than craigslist or ebay.