JonnyV

Mt. Nittany Wheelworks in State College, Pa closed it's doors. I was amazed to hear this because the store I work for and Wheelworks had a nice little co-op going on. We set up a small show room in their place to help draw people in during their slow time of year. Unfortunately it wasn't enough and at the end of today's business hours they're locking up for good. Tomorrow I get to yank all of our equipment out and see what kind of tools they have left. I hate to see them go, they were a great shop and knew what they were talking about. Oh well. Frank, Jim or Harry, if any of you are on here, best of luck to you.
Jon

nesdog

I hear ya....our LBS (and my Saturday shop ride) is now closing....Agoura Cycles.

LawnChair

Talk to anyone in small business and there is
a chance they might close down. These are really
tough economic times. It all comes home when you
actually see your favorite LBS, restaurant, mechanic,
etc. shut down.

C Law

They used to sponsor the Wilderness 101 race. Sad to see them go, and they aren't even my LBS.

socalrider

This economy is taking down a lot of LBS's.. It is very sad to see..

bhikkhu

That's really too bad. We had two LBS's in our town for years, then both closed a couple of years ago. A new one has opened up now though, and I'm worried it may not last. Over the summer they said business was great and lots of people got new bikes due to gas prices, but it seems to have slowed dramatically...

JonnyV

No need to talk to anyone, I work for a small fitness supplier, Natural Gains, that deals with only high end stuff; True, Vision, Precor, Lifefitness, Star Trac and the list goes on. We are the only show in town for high end equipment like that. The only store between Pittsburgh and Harrisburgh and we're still feeling the pinch. The sad part is that this area really hasn't been hit that hard by the recession, there haven't been all that many lay offs, it's more of people panicing by what they see on CNN. I love what I do for a living, I have a great boss and enjoy working with people, so hopefully this all gets cleared up and things run a little smoother.

Psimet2001 

Sorry to hear it. I have acutally heard of them as well.

Around here I received word that Mission Bay Multisport - big shop in town - closed it doors. Distributors are saying they stopped paying their bills and their booth at the swap meet 2 weekends ago had their name on it but was empty.

Many of the shops that had high amounts of inventory they procured on terms are probably going to end up in the same boat. The shop I ride out of doesn't have a lot fo inventory, but he owns everything in the place. That helps.

LawnChair

That's the sad part about what's happening right now. A company can
be doing a good job and have employees that are competent
and skilled and yet still go out of business. Most people don't realize that
in business, it's a battle to acquire any dollar over breakeven. A slight turn
in the economy will immediately kill off the inefficient, a major downturn,
then luck is involved.

HigherGround

I had tried to go there once when I was visiting State College. It was the Sunday before classes started for the fall semester, and they were closed. I never quite figured that one out. The weekend before classes began seemed like an ideal opportunity to be selling bikes and booking repairs.

Any way, it's too bad that they closed. They had been a sponsor of the Penn State team, which is always appreciated.

jmechy

Agoura is closing?! That sucks. I bought my bike from them about 2 years back, nice place.

Grasschopper

Not really too bad...IMO they really farked up the State College road cycling scene and I could care less that they have closed down. Freeze Thaw and The Bicycle Shop have had record years and still say they are doing great...something is a bit fishy with the Wheelworks closing to me.

When Wheelworks opened it was a couple guys that left the Bicycle Shop...at every turn they would slam TBS and do everything in their power to try and hurt TBS. From snatching the PSU team to snatching the loacl road ride and openly trash talking TBS. Not good buisness IMO. They always came off as elitest a holes as well and I am not the only one that thinks that.

One recent story I have is a female friend of mine who was looking for her her first real road bike....they told her she needed a $4500 Madone but they didn't have one in her size...they would order it for her with a 20% deposit....yea $4500 Madone as a first road bike with no test ride....sure.

Here is to hoping the State College road bike scene re unites.

RacerJRP

My LBS, which I just happen to work in is having a very hard time. Not sure if were going to make it back into riding season. Sucks. hard. But the owner is doing everything in his power to try and make it through.

JTownCitycycle

that's too bad about that place. My cousin owns CityCycle in Johnstown,Pa That place has been in operation almost my entire life and am 48 I couldn't imagine not going there anymore for my bike needs and conversation.

nesdog

Also Joel's newer place in the Valley. I just came from the shop and it's sad in there. Lots of folks around here are down in the dumps about it. It was a great place to hang out, start our Sat rides and pick up items.

OldGeezer

Our local Performance store closed its doors shortly after New Years day. Say what you want but they had a decent selection of stuff at reasonable prices. I'm going to miss them.

Psimet2001 

I'm interested...was this a relatively new Performance store or was it a legacy hold over Supergo?

roccobike

The Spin Cycle in Cary, NC (near Raleigh) closed it's doors. I'm surprised because this is a hot bicycle area. I thought all the shops would survive. But that's not the case. I hope that's the last shop that closes, but that's probably not realistic.

urbanknight

My favorite shop, which I've been going to since I was 9 years old, is also closing down. Agoura Cycles RIP.

icyclist 

I'm somewhat amazed that bike shops, after their phenomenal business last summer with the run-up in gas prices, haven't been able to hold on longer, especially in Los Angeles, where I live, and where the weather is almost always fine. I suppose, even with the drop in gas prices and severe winter weather over much of the country, it's not just a matter of people not wanting to spend money on bikes and bike repair during this recession/depression. It's that many people don't have any money to spend, like the 70,000+ laid off yesterday.

My friend, who works for Giant, tells me wholesale bike sales have been good - at least until now - that it's purchases of accessories and repairs that have taken a major nosedive.

Whenever I visit little Beverly Hills bike shop (which is across the street from the Beverly Hills city line), the two or three sales/repair people there are always friendly and helpful. While the prices are on the high side, I find their attitude is so much more welcoming than I've found at some of the larger shops in town, such as Performance, in Santa Monica, where customers are ignored unless they're bold enough to track down a salesperson. It'll be interesting to see which of my local shops survives, and of course I hope they all do.

HigherGround

I should point out that I was being a bit charitable about it being too bad that they closed. I was looking at it strictly from a team sponsorship viewpoint. When I was a student at Penn State (before Mt. Nittany Wheelworks even existed), The Bicycle Shop was the shop that I liked the best. Some e-mail correspondence with one one of the employees at Mt. Nittany Wheelworks a few years ago left me with a bad first impression. Finding the store closed the Sunday before classes began didn't improve my impression either. That just seemed like a really stupid business practice. However when I was able to ride with another employee from the store, he was pretty cool, so I considered it a draw over all. But still, it's a shame for the team to lose a sponsor.

It does seem odd for a bike shop in a college town to be closing, especially when people have an even greater incentive to be riding (due to the current economic crisis). As I recall from the outside, they had a pretty nice building. I wonder if the rent was killing them?

I doubt the team could have been "snatched" away from The Bicycle Shop unless they were willing to be, so there's some responsibility on both sides. I expect there's more to the story than meets the eye initially. There almost always is. There's something to be said for loyalty, and I hope the team didn't burn any bridges with other shops in town.

Was Mt. Nittany Wheelworks the shop that sponsored the group ride that you had started a thread about a few years ago?

unterhausen

It may be that Wheelworks location may have done them it. There are still three bike shops along the main drag in downtown State College. The place where Wheelworks is located isn't a natural ride from campus. I certainly wouldn't walk there from work; I can walk to TBS and Freeze Thaw without any problems. I don't know any of the history, the State College area seems to have a strange lack of group rides to me.

I noticed they managed to take down their google ads on this site.

Grasschopper, is anyone riding this time of year? I went on the ride you told me about and enjoyed it, but it was the last one of the season because of lack of light.

waterrockets 

Yeah, it's going to continue getting worse before it gets better. As people are tightening their budgets "just in case," they are starting to realize that bicycles are actually durable goods and don't need to be replaced annually.

UtahWasatch

Just about verbatim of what I recently heard at my preferred LBS. Hope they make it till the spring selling season.

Grasschopper

I started a thread about my expierence on one of their rides this summer...hottest day of the year...20 miles in and they dropped me like a rock and never looked back.

The PSU team moving to them was very odd...they had friends on the team which I believe was the main reason for the move, from what TBS owner at the time told me what he was offering PSU Cycling was more than Mt Nittany was plus Mt Nittany didn't support the race much if at all. I am sure TBS will sponsor the team in 2009.

As for their shop it was in a strangeish location but they had recently EXPANDED when their next door neighbor closed they took over their floor space, I noted that this summer when I was their for the ride and assumed they were doing well, they had more bikes than ever and more floor space than TBS. Maybe they shouldn't have expanded?

It is actually pretty easy to get there from campus...just take north Allen and it drops you right into their parking lot as Allen turns into Cherry Ln. Not easy by car but plenty easy my bike....it is a bit of a hike by foot though you are right.

There are some but honestly I am not one of them so I don't know when...I do know my friend Joe is still riding and I still see a lot of people commuting which is great.

Rich as I am sure you remember there was always a Sat and Sun morning road ride that left from Rec Hall...in 2003 when Wheelworks opened they told those riders the rides now started from Wheelworks...then the Sun ride folded...and the Sat ride turned into what I went to...a buddy ride and if you aren't someone's buddy they could give a rats ass about you.

I am hoping the local road scene comes back together and drops the attitude that was prevalent at Wheelworks.