Quote:
Originally Posted by Sieg
Being from Eugene, OR there are a lot of small bike businesses. If you do it right in a niche neighborhood you have a chance. Service/maintenance and repair department could stay busy and bring in consistent revenue with good seasonal marketing plan. If there's an REI or Performance Bike close they could make it tougher. We have an REI and there are still 4 smaller shops within a ten block radius that are doing alright but REI definitely made a dent in their service volume and accessories margins. Eugene has a very large bike population though. Might be worth a trip up here to investigate the shops.
I have a good friend that just retired last week and was an agent for Bianchi, Look, Continental, Eston, Bell Sport and more for 20 years. REI and Performance we're his accounts with Bell unbelievable numbers (7 figures) in just Gyro and Bell helmet sales. You might be able to bend his ear a little.
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Thanks Sieg, at some point that would be awesome to have a chat with your friend, I'm still in the beginning stages of planing and seeing just what is need to get this off the ground. There are a couple of other bike shops along the trail and I would be in the middle of both, so I need to go check them out (which I plan todo today). Service and accessories are key from the research I have done already. In the end I may just start with the bikes and then move to other areas if it makes sense. The owner of the building is really willing to work with me to get it rented so will see how that goes.