Our monthly phone around Australia suggests that business is ticking over quite busily. In fact we had to call quite a number of shops to find some who were not too busy with customers or repairs to talk to us this month.
With Christmas just over a week away, we asked the bike shop owners we spoke to this month about how much time off they get over Christmas and which days they close their store for. It was interesting to see their wide range of responses, which largely depended on the characteristics of their location.
Chris Petrovich of Riders Choice, which is in the heart of Perth’s Central Business District, WA, said:
I guess over the past year since we’ve opened up… we noticed a massive spike at the start being a new store and the only Trek dealer in the city. That definitely drew a lot of attention.
I feel for everyone though over the past six to eight months there’s been a bit of a downturn with the economy. For us it has slowed down a little bit but nothing too bare bones.
Business is one of those things where it’s, ‘If bikes don’t move then we’ll have to move P&A.’ We do what we have to to get by.
We opened in September 2014. Our two major markets would be road bikes for Trek and flatbar / commute / fitness bikes. In terms of accessories, all clothing goes out the door. Lights, tyres, tubes obviously being in the city, there’s quite a lot. Obviously saddles, helmets, shoes. All Bontrager parts go well in the store.
There’s three of the majors (Trek, Giant and Specialized) all with stores opened in the Perth CBD in the past three to four years.
(Which days shut for Christmas?) We’re going to open until 24th December, then being in the CBD we’re going to shut until Monday 4th January. Being in the CBD, most people close down and because we’re smack bang in the middle of it, it doesn’t make sense to stay open when everyone is on holidays. Our main clientele is the suit and tie crowd so if they’re gone, that’s it. No one else really comes into the CBD.
Richard Ellis of Bike Tech in Pialba on Hervey Bay in Queensland said:
Business is actually very good. We’ve been open for 15 months in a very difficult market. Hervey Bay has never been a buoyant market for cycles. We’re a Giant based store. Mid to high end, all based upon customer service.
We have shown continuous growth since opening. Into our second year, again consistent growth, so it shows the market is there with the service we’re offering.
So we’re very pleased. It’s been a very good season and looking to be a good Christmas.
I came here six years ago to do a store, but didn’t feel the town was ready. Only the past two years you could see the growth and interest as new mountain bike parks were developed.
Being an avid mountain biker for 25 years I just had to do it (a bike shop) again.
I’ve had shops before overseas and felt the market was there for the taking.
I’ve had shops in England and New Zealand. My last store was Planet Cycles in Auckland. The original Planet Cycles in East Auckland I set up in 2001. They ended up closing. I ended up buying the name back and set up a small, focussed store, all about service.
I think this is where the difference is. We do ride. We are passionate about what we do.
We were very strong in mountain biking to start up with. But I think we have filled a lot of the market and the biggest growth for us recently has been road.
(Which days shut for Christmas?) Purely the official holidays, so from the Friday through to the Monday, then from the Friday through to Sunday for the New Year. We are open between Christmas to New Year for the three days, but only 10 am to 3 pm, so I can go riding!
Mark Bulka of Freewheeling Cycles in Rosebud on Port Phillip Bay about 80 km from Melbourne, Vic said:
We’ve had one of our worst winters for a long time, but now that we’re into December it’s certainly firing, but it has taken a long time to get going.
We’re definitely weather related. We’re a holiday destination area, so if the weather is fine, the population increases tenfold basically.
If it’s cool, they don’t come. There’s a lot of holiday houses in our area.
We’ve got the bay right next to us, and over the hill we have the ocean beach. We don’t want it to be raining otherwise they don’t come to their holiday houses. But we don’t want it to be too hot otherwise they want to go to the beach. We just need in between. Anything from 20 to 30 degrees is nice for us.
We go hard in every bike category now. We do all the family range. We’re doing reasonably good road bikes, Giant Propel’s and TCR’s and every day mountain bikes and also a bit of dual suspension as well.
We have an area close by that’s been designated a mountain bike park now. We’ve always ridden there but it’s become more well known and the local government has got more behind it. It’s a mountain bike zoned area now and the club, the Red Hill Riders, have put up signs for a lot of the tracks and made it more of a serious mountain bike park, which is good.
Young kids are all going up there with their $400 bikes and a lot of them are starting to realise that perhaps they have to go a little better than that. Just getting the parents on the same page is the key. But there’s definitely a lot more people riding the Hill.
(Which days shut for Christmas?) Christmas Day. That’s it. We’re definitely seven days a week now. It’s a matter of survival. A bad day in summer is better than a fine day in winter down here so we may as well be open at this time of year when the population increases. Because in May, June, July there’s very little going on.
Jenny Adgers of U-Pedal Cycles in the South Australian ‘Iron Triangle’ city of Whyalla said:
Considering that Whyalla is a mining town and lots of people have been losing their jobs, I’m actually pretty happy with how business has been going.
We’ve lost a lot of jobs and there’s still more to come. Years ago we had 37,000 people and then we went down to about 22,000 to 24,000 people. I heard somebody say the other day that we’ve probably lost about 4,000, which is a reasonable drop.
We are the only bike shop in town. We sell Specialized, Apollo, Malvern Star, Felt, Haro, GT, Mongoose. We’ve got to have a little bit of everything because we are the only bike shop in the area. So we try to keep a few brands going.
If I was to talk about Christmas this year, the BMX bikes are the ones that are rock’n rolling quite well. But through the year, mountain bikes for people to ride to work have been a good seller. Anything under $1,000. Over $1,000 we struggle a bit.
(Which days shut for Christmas?) I’m closing that whole Christmas week. Finishing on 24th December and opening on 4th January. I did it last year. Because I’m doing it basically on my own here, I need that break.
David Tuckerman of The Bike Shack in the NSW south coast city of Nowra said:
Business is good, fairly steady at the moment. The past 10 years around about now it goes quiet then kicks off for the last week (before Christmas) but this is probably the first year that it’s actually carrying through.
It’s been steady the whole year actually. I run with four casuals, two of which are permanent and two lesser. Some times we have six of us here with my wife and I, in the busy periods.
But we did two or three months mainly on our own over the winter, with only a few casuals.
I’d love to have a full time person here. Mainly so I could get some time off.
But even though we’re a busy business and the turnover is good, it still doesn’t cover the expense of a full time staff, which I find quite bizarre, because I wonder how everyone else does it.
Our premises is owned by a real estate agent, so say no more. I could go on… It’s pretty well wrapped up in this town. The real estate just goes up and up.
Our last step that we would like to do at our point in business would be to buy a premises. But where our shop is now is probably the best location I could possibly have in the town, so it makes it hard to buy somewhere else and move. We could probably afford to buy somewhere, but where? We could expand quite easily. I could have expanded years ago, but we decided to keep the shop small and compact to make it as profitable as possible.
We’ve got good brands. We deal with Trek and Advance Traders. We don’t need any other brands really.
We do really well in the workshop. I’ve been a motorbike mechanic in the past and then I went to cars, so I’ve been in the motor trade for 25 years. I’ve been riding bikes for 30 years and now we’ve had the bike shop for 10 years.
We have our finger on the pulse. Every day you have to look at how you can improve your business. The main thing is customer service. We try really hard and we’re probably 99.9% successful in that area, which is why we have so many repeat customers. They keep coming back.
(Which days shut for Christmas?) We don’t get many holidays. I only get a two week block. One of our casuals can cover for two weeks. To keep the money flowing, I work every day over Christmas apart from the public holidays.
Then I have two weeks off the last two weeks of January.
Yvonne Pfau of Penny Farthing Cycles in Alice Springs, NT said:
It’s erratic. One day you think it’s turning and you’re doing well. The next day you think, ‘Where did everyone go?’
Talking to other businesses in the area, they’re all having the same problem.
We’ve always had that great mountain bike scene. It’s been that hidden treasure where you can just ride out onto a trail and keep going.
The Northern Territory government have finally come on board. We’ve got trails that are being built and we’re becoming a highly sought after destination for mountain biking now.
Our triathlon scene has grown dramatically.
We’re selling more mountain bikes than any other, and commuter / comfort bikes. Retro bikes have become quite popular again, like your old ladies’ step throughs.
Hybrids for commuting have become more popular as well.
If people aren’t buying a new bike, they’re pulling out their old one and getting it running. ‘Pub bikes’ are very popular. They ride them to the pub and tie them to the front and ride them home afterwards. There’s a few pubs in town where if you look at the fence outside, it can be up to five deep in bicycles, all chained one over the other.
(Which days shut for Christmas?) Just the gazetted holidays. A lot of people go interstate, back to family, so we just work restricted hours between Christmas and New Year, 10 am to 4 pm for us.
It’s just hot and quiet. We’re still here to provide a service, but we just shorten the hours.
