Originally Posted by
OldschoolTrek
I work for a shop that was a specialized dealer for 20 years. A few years ago when Specialized said that they wanted us to become a concept store and the owners and managers said no, (they wanted more variety to cator to an assortment of different types of customers) specialized pulled all of our dealership rights. Does Specialized and Trek make a quality product? Sure. Are there higher quality products out there that get you more for your money? Heck yeah.
Certainly. It's not purely Trek trying to monopolize its dealers, the other brands bear some responsibility as well. Specialized was upping its minimums it required its dealers to order, and Trek was doing the same, and from what I've heard, they wanted their dealers to commit fully before even knowing what the hot sellers would be, or how their sales in general were going for the year. And as you say, Specialized wanted many of its dealers to do what Trek has been doing, mainly only carry their line.
So lots of dealers couldn't afford to meet the minimums required by both Trek and Specialized, and had to choose one or the other.