On 3/20/2018 10:12 AM, jbeattie wrote:

snip

I think that these Portland companies should open a store in Cupertino.
We have many tour buses coming into town every day and after they visit
the Apple Visitor Center they could stop at one of these bike shops.

Bike Tires Direct is here, too: https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...ce-course-tire Incredible deal on a great fast tire!

Tires have such huge mark-ups. I know someone at a club whose race team
gets about 60% off retail for tires, which is less than shops can buy
them for. Yet obviously the manufacturer is still not selling at a loss.
It's nice of the manufacturers to support race teams with these
discounts, but I expect that the shops are not thrilled about losing
these high-margin sales.

Dirt is too expensive down there for these guys to open a bricks-and-mortar store. They can get the revenue via the interweb and skip the lease. You need some business with a higher margin to justify the rents and labor costs in the Bay Area.

We recently lost Chain Reaction's Los Altos store which was a big loss.
I think that the space is still not leased. But it made sense for them,
their customers will still likely buy high-end bikes from their other
store, but not go that far for other items.

But there are places in the Bay Area with low lease rates. But the
owners of the buildings are always looking to redevelop so you are
constantly moving. My wife's office has moved three times already. The
last time they moved the building was knocked down the next day. And the
place they moved to will also be torn down in a few years.

At Universal and Western, I monkey punch my order into the website, get an e-mail that its ready to pick up and then walk or ride over there. It's sort of a hybrid process -- but both shops are making their real money on the internet.

Fry's is doing that now too. But when you go to pick up your order it's
either incomplete or they can't find it at all and they have to send
someone out to pick it again.

What I like about Western is their head mechanic who is a hoot and makes steel frames and forks on the side. His father was a bicycle fanatic, so he knows all the old lore -- and he is indulgent with my story telling about the good old days. You have to humor the old guys -- who are the ones spending the money. That's what drives shop loyalty in the age of the interweb.

I think that you need to buy an Amazon Echo Silver to deal with the
stories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvT_gqs5ETk.

BTW, the real deals up here are from the local manufacturers/distributors like Rapha, Castelli USA and Showers Pass who have some incredible warehouse sales, but you have to go over there and elbow people in confined spaces. The annual Rapha sale is crazy, and I always go with my best bicycling buddy, but I never buy anything because even at half off, its too expensive. I do like standing shoulder to shoulder with people, trying on jackets though. It's like cramming frat brothers into a telephone booth.

My son now works he https://stagescycling.com/us/, also in PDX of course, and he just orders pro deal or from QBP, and I worry that his consumerism will get the better of him. Do you really need that? But its so cheap! Practically all my best bicycling companions are in the industry, so everyone gets pro deals -- except me, unless I get some buddy deal, and its not worth the effort. You only need so much stuff.

When my daughter was in college on the on-campus bike co-op ordered
stuff from QBP and sold it to students, or anyone, for just a few
percent over wholesale.

No wonder it's so hard for a regular bicycle shop to make any money
selling parts and accessories and clothing. Between Nashbar, Aliexpress,
Amazon, and almost everyone knowing someone that can get them a deal
from QBP or direct from a manufacturer, it's hopeless for these shops.

Sports Basement is a pretty good store and they periodically offer 20%
off everything in the store which is not a big deal for clothing, but
it's a pretty big deal for complete bicycles. Very nice people there,
without the attitude of some other stores.