Don't bike without a tail light
« Cycle Holidays Ireland - A Review Of The Company | Home | Winter Bike Tours In Hawaii »
Support Your Local Bike Shop
By spokesman | November 26, 2008
In the current economic crisis, many small business are suffering. Most local bike shops are small businesses. In fact bike shops are one of the few small businesses that have not been crushed by big box retailers and national chains. Many other small businesses have been decimated by those competitors. Think of all of the hardware stores that have gone out of business because of Home Depot and Lowes or the stationery stores that have disappeared because of Office Depot and Staples. Although bike shops have been hurt by larger chains and internet sales, they are one of the small businesses that has managed to hang on.
However the current credit crises is hurting many bikes shops. Due to the seasonality of bike sales, credit is very important to their business. Inventory is expensive and often the bikes are in the shop for many months before they are sold. Bike shops also need to place their orders way in advance, so that the manufacturers can fill the orders.
What can you do to help? Support your local shop. In many parts of the country, it is winter and you will be riding much less, if at all. Bring you bike in for a tune up or long overdue maintenance. Splurge on some upgrades or replace some worn parts - saddle, tires, brake pads, chain etc. Buy some winter gear and keep riding longer. Buy a trainer or rollers and bike indoors if you don’t like the cold. Either way, you will be in better shape at the start of next season. Support your shop, so that it is there next spring. I can’t tell you how much I miss my local hardware store, each time I am forced to go to Home Depot, because there the local hardware store is out of business. Don’t let our local bike shops meet the same fate.
I’d like to thank the other blogs that have linked to this post or have written on this topic to spread the word about supporting local bike shops. These blogs include
Biking Bis, Austin Bike Blog, Cyclicious, Vitesse Press, The Cycling Dude and Bike Commute Tips Blog.
If you like this post then please consider subscribing to my full feed RSS . You can also subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.
Topics: Bicycles And Business |
WordPress database error: [Table './bicycles_wrdp1/wp_comments' is marked as crashed and should be repaired]
SELECT * FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_ID = '169' AND comment_approved = '1' ORDER BY comment_date