TIME FOR A SALE // JOIN US FOR SOME SMOOTH DEALS
Hi all you Huckleberries! First I'm going to give you the details about our sale, then I'm going to get on my soap box: 20% off Closeout Bikes. Cannondale and Cervelo in particular still have a fair number of 2018 models on sale. 20% off Helmets. We sell Kask, Bern, Safe-Tec, Abus, POC, Cannondale, and have a few Giros hanging around. 20% off Lights. It's light season folks, don't be caught without one! 20% off Apparel. We have a lot of great jerseys, warmers, jackets, tshirts and more. 20% off Shoes. Fizik shoes are so awesome! Don't ride your bike without cycling shoes! We also have several online exclusive deals that you can find here. We will also do a promo for current year (2019) bikes. If you purchase a 2019 bike over $1000 we will give you $100 in store credit. Purchase a bike over $2000 and we will give you a store credit of $200. Soap box time. The end of the year has arrived, and I for one am happy to see it go and concerned about what the future holds for bike retail. We all see the passing of time and the events of a year through our own particular lenses. For us in the bike industry, it has been a troubling and confusing year. We end this year with the chapter 11 filing of a major retailer and supplier in the bike industry. We know them as Performance Bicycle, but it is their parent company that is going bankrupt. They have 100 stores throughout the country and own several major "tier 2" bike brands. Three of them in the Bay Area are closing. This is what happens when our industry is forced to continuously lower its prices to compete with the expectations created by online retail. And let's not think for a second that the small independent bike shops like Huck here are supposed to be excited about the prospect of a big competitor closing their shops. It's too easy to take that approach. Fellow bike industry folks lose their jobs, the market is saturated with blow-out priced goods, and it indicates a downward trend in our industry. Not good. On top of that scary trend and the overall downward spiral we see in brick-and-mortar retail, there is an even more concerning trend. When we opened in 2011, the transportation landscape was completely different. Uber and Lyft were fledgling at best. Fast forward to 2018. The other night I closed up shop and went out front to look at our store on Market Street. Every single bike-parking staple was taken, BY A JUMP BIKE. And next to those Jump bikes was a fleet of 20 or so Ford Go bikes. Walk another block and there is a pile of electric scooters on the corner. Come home and read the news: Lyft has purchased the largest fleet of share bikes in the country. They are going to flood New York City with 40,000 of these bikes. When share bikes came to town everyone said to us, "Don't worry, it's going to get more people interested in riding bikes and you are going to sell more bikes." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that is funny. Urban, commuter bikes, once the steadiest part of our business, has completely dried up. If you don't believe me, ask me for my numbers, I'm more than happy to share with you. Or just go read this interview with Gene, owner of One on One in Minneapolis, an incredible bike shop in downtown. He lays it out clear what has happened to shops like ours in the wake of this "transportation fascination." Why am I telling you this? After all, if you are reading this blog or visiting our store, you already probably understand the importance of keeping the bike retail industry INDEPENDENT. But perhaps you can tell a friend or a colleague to consider giving their bike business to a local retailer instead of a corporate car business. We don't plan to go anywhere, but we will be changing our model in 2019 to keep up with the trends. So stay tuned. But for now, if you value active street-level spaces in your community and the services that we provide, then I ask you to please patronize your local bicycle shops. If, however, you would prefer to let Uber, Lyft, and Ford appropriate bicycle culture and bikes as transportation, then by all means go for it. They would love to have your data. We would love to have a relationship with you. Come to our sale!
