ZIPP2001

Today was my final visit to Gear Works Cyclery as the doors close tomorrow. After 21 years it's like losing a family member, Gene and the crew were the best. While I was out their I decided to ride threw my old neighborhood, where my love of the bicycle started.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaSkKkGepRs

qcpmsame 

Why did they close shop? Economy, retirement, any idea?

Bill

ZIPP2001

Economy, Insurance costs, lower profit margins each year. The owner decided before it got much worse it was time to stop. It was getting harder and harder to compete with the internet, and the larger box stores selling bikes. This is the third shop in the region in recent history to close.

qcpmsame 

Cannot say that I blame him, cut the losses before you are in way too deep. Our area had a long time LBS nearly go under, they got too large, with several locations around town, cash flow got the best of them. An employee took over one location, he has cut the number of lines, drastically, Trek is long gone. The original name is in a small place in town, and they have opened another location (here we go again,) in one of the high density suburbs, where the second most successful shop will likely not give away many customers.

There have been a large number of LBS come and go, in our area, not one shop that I used in the 70s and 80s is still in existence. The LBS I use is probably the closest thing to a Legacy Shop we have, Tom, one of the owners and I go way back in cycling here, he has been involved in retail LBS since the early 80s, and I knew him from the old local club we were members of in the 79s and 80s.

Where in Massachusetts are you? I am familiar with Northampton, our daughter is a Smith alumnae.

Bill

eatontkd

We're responsible if we choose Internet and box stores over small business for our "needs". I never understood all the sad lament about losing a family business while on the way to Wal-stuff.

ZIPP2001

I live in Winchendon but the shop was down in Leominster about a 25 mile ride. I did a lot of racing back in the day out in Greenfield, MA. and still go out their with friends to ride once and a while. Been threw the Northampton area on some rides.

ZIPP2001

I bough several bikes through his shop and other local shops and have sent many friends to buy their bikes their also. I would never consider buying a bike online or in a big box store. I do all my own maintenance on my bikes but I still bought all my parts from him. The shop did so much for the community that most people never saw, so it's sad to see it go. What you see more often than not now a days are people going in a shop to use it as a sizing tool. Once they figurine out sizing and so on they go home and order it off the net.

roccobike

Folks in my neighborhood pretty much buy Wally World bikes for their kids. I try to educate them, but it's like talking to a wall. They see bikes as a toy not as a means of transportation. Not sure how the LBSs are doing around here. Not aware of any closing, but haven't seen any new ones in the area. I do know one group tried to expand into the town I live in, but rentals were too steep so they had to pass.

eatontkd

Exactly! Small business has to be a part of the community or it runs the risk of early failure. Most box stores can't even pay a decent living wage and in turn, counsel their employees on how to file for government assistance! Sorry, I own a small business and this topic hits home... I'll go back into my cage now...

nmichell

I live in a bike mecca, I think. We've got at least 7 or 8 local shops, as well as as some small startups making bikes. At least some of these LBSs have been around for quite a while; I've probably bought bikes from half-a-dozen places over the years. And my bamboo commuter bike came frome funding a kickstarter project for a local startup :-)

Cougrrcj

Very few dedicated bike shops within 20 miles of my house, and none deal with 'obsolete' bikes/parts like mine. About all I can use a LBS store for is replacement cables/housing. The last shop that dealt with any sort of vintage stuff closed down with the exceptions of the occasional Wednesday - and that is by appointment.-- soooo.... off to the interwebs I go.

B. Carfree

My favorite bike shop is starting to look like it will end in a few years. The owner has dramatically reduced his bike stock and is having trouble determining what his niche is. There's a bike big-box store that came to town two years ago plus a Trek dealer and a Specialized dealer that grab many/most of the name-brand mid-high end folks. His shop has the best mechanic in town, but doesn't have a large inventory of parts so there is always a wait. I send as many people there as I can, but in a city that has lost 37% of its cycling community over the past six years there are fewer and fewer folks to send in.

I'm really going to hate having to do everything over the internet. I enjoy going into a shop and having the staff and owner know me. I like buying them lunch every so often. I even like ordering parts from them that I could get cheaper and faster on the internet because sometimes they have ideas about what I should do that are better than what had occurred to me. These shops are a part of what has made cycling fun for me over the decades. It's always sad to lose a good one.

StanSeven

At the same time, other shops flourish. The days of a general LBS that sells a range of bikes from kids to BMX to mountsin bikes, etc., plus repair of it all is mostly over.

My two favorite LBS are doing extremely well and didn't start all that long ago. One does is likes mostly in high end and tri stuff. They have several mechanics and can fix most anything while you wait. They stock everything in the mid to high end range and that includes frames and complete bikes in almost all sizes. The other specialized in fittings and custom bikes. Their shop physically doubled in size the last few years and opened another location as well.

gevad 

I live in your area -- which LBSs are you referring to?

Thanks.

Dave

Monoborracho

There is not a bike shop within 70 miles of where I live, so no LBS to lose and if it were not for the internet it would really be a pain.

Since I am not a regular anywhere, my service in the big city tends to be poor, IMHO, at most of the shops I've frequented. Business is business. No one cries for me when my business suffers, so it is what it is.

Daspydyr 

I lost Aspen Creek at the first of the year. It is a sad day when you share bike stuff with good people.

StanSeven

Dave,

My reply post disappeared. They are Fresh Bikes in Ballston (Arlinton Va) and Parvilla in Edgewater (Annapolis Md)

DBrown9383

I am guilty. Before I joined this forum I bought a bike from Amazon.com. AFTER I bought the bike I visited my LBS.. Now I go there for everything even though the items are much cheaper on the internet. Some day I'll buy a bike from the LBS if and when he gets something that I'm interested in and I can afford it.

wished

Always sad to see a local shop go under, no matter the business. When I got back into biking after a 30+ year break I bought a cheap bike from Wallyworld. After a few weeks I realized I needed to upgrade so went to only LBS and they had a used mountain/hybrid pretty cheap, then realizing that I had only had the other bike 29 days I cleaned it up and took it back to Wally for a refund. I wouldn't have done that with a LBS but didn't mind taking it back to Wally since no one there cares about the place anyway. A year later I wanted to upgrade to more of a casual road/touring bike but LBS had no interest in talking with a guy with grey hair that wasn't a triathlete. Looked around online but really wanted something from a LBS. Finally drove 7 hours to see my nephew, who manages a nice LBS out of my town, and bought two brand new bikes (one for me and one for my adult daughter, by biking buddy). Went back to our own LBS to see about some service and adding some options, pretty much told me that if I didn't buy it from them then they really didn't have time to work on it. Went online to buy what I needed, including some tools and downloaded some maintenance books. My closest option now for a LBS is a really nice guy about 90 miles away, a long way to go to just drop in.

Maybe now that I am retiring I will open a small LBS for the "rest of us" that don't want to race. Just a place for some maintenance, good coffee, and fellowship. . . hmmmm?

Mobile 155

I guess in a way I am lucky that there is a LBS close by. But they have changed from what they were a few years ago. The one I go to does primarily repair work and sells a few bikes out of the shop. But mostly has you look up the bike you are interested in on line from one of the few local distributors and has the bike there the next day or two. When I want something I will go there first and see how close the owner can come to online prices. The second close shop is a Trek dealer that also sells one or two other brands as an aside.

But it is sad to see a good bike shop go under and lose the problem solving skills that you may lack.

SammyJ 

Nice video.

John E

There are at least five bike shops, all good, and an REI and a WalMart, within a 5-mile radius of my house. (This is even more remarkable when one considers that more than 1/3 of this 5-mile circle is Pacific Ocean. ) The shops tend to specialize somewhat to reduce overlap, with one catering definitely to the racing set and another to kids and families. Although I am an REI member, I do not consider REI to be a "real" bike shop, any more than WalMart is.

Since my newest bicycle is almost 28 years old and the oldest is 57 years old, I obviously have to buy many of my replacement parts on the eBay or elsewhere on the Internet. However, I do buy clothing, tires, and tubes locally.