Wow, stopped in at a Scheel's for the first time today. I didn't expect them to have such a selection of high end bikes! I thought they were more like a Sportmart, etc. They actually have a full service dept as well. The local one here mainly sells Specialized, and they have everything from high-end S-Works, all the way down. Doesn't have the friendly feel of a smaller LBS though, but I can see where they will definitely make it harder on the small shops to compete.

Sounds like Specialized is making it hard on the small shops too. They have to stock something like $15,000 worth of S-Works for Specialized to even allow them to sell that line? Seems wrong to me?

Anyone done much business with Scheels?

To be fair, $15,000 of S-Works bike is like 4 bikes. Possibly 6 or 7.

Scheel's eh? Never heard of them.

That's still alot of $$$ to have sitting on the floor for a smaller LBS, especially when their average sale tends to be in the $500 range.

i dunno my LBS has already sold 5 alines, a shore a few six's and quite a few hardtails. the alines alone add up to 15k. its a small shop too, just in the basement of a homehardware, they make alot of money down there.

Shcheel's is becoming a huge player in the bike biz, along with other sporting goods stores like Gaylan's, REI, and yes, Sportmart. I think the next 5 years will see big chains like them putting some serious hurt on the typical IBD. The independent bike shop is quickly going the way of the independent record store, video rental place, stereo shop, etc.

Sad to see, but I guess that's "progress."