[Closed] Bikelab Richmond

Not surprised. The only time we went in the staff pointedly ignored us. Wrong demographic obviously.
So herself bought a niner emd9 with X0 from Cycleworks in Leatherhead - they couldn't have been more helpful.

Yeah I agree, was just curious.

Just made me chuckle that there isn't even a note on the door. Such is their arrogance.

Went in for a browse once, was not much of interest in there. I don't own a Giant but find the staff in their Twickenham shop really helpful.

Sounds like I wasn't the only one who though they were rubbish then!

I went in there a few months back to have a look at a Niner Air 9 Carbon frame they had in stock. They pretty much ignored me while I was in the shop and neither of the guys in there had a clue about the frame or anything that came with it. I walked in with £1500 burning a hole in my pocket and walked out without spending a penny in there.
About six weeks ago they listed the frame on eBay and it sold for £700 or so. Idiots.

Yeah is was a bit 'showroom'. Staff never even said hello when you walked in.

Place is completely empty now. No note on the door for existing or future customers. Sums them up really.

There are way better independent shops in the area anyway.

Yes, shut. And no great loss to the bike industry, sadly.

I was also ignored on the three times I went in. Useless.

In this day and age, spending a fortune on halo bike stock and pointless shiny showroom stuff doesn't make money. Get in, get established with good service, that's the key. They didn't. The good shops will survive, the bad ones won't.

CycleWorks in Leatherhead is a good LBS. Good stock and friendly staff whether you are buying a carbon frame or a inner tube.

My friends LBS near(ish) to Richmond is booming. LBS's are so much about customer service.

I apologise if we came off as "arrogant", but to me that's completely incorrect. All we tried to do was to give people good service for the stuff they want.. Guess we just got a little tired of people coming in, trying stuff on then going and buying it online. (Yes, this actually happened) this as I'm sure you'll be able to see gets a little tiresome when the business we all cared about loses out as a result.
It's true to a point what you said about "halo" bikes, however you may not realise we were set up as a premium shop, selling premium items. It seems like a good idea in concept being located in Richmond does it not? We've also been reliably informed that we (despite what may seem) did have good customer service, and I can only apologise for what you may have received.

Not that any of this matters now though.

Cheers.

I think it's a bit late to apologise TBH. We were quite pleased to have what appeared to be a [i]premium bike shop[/i] on our doorstep, however, your customer service was so poor that we would never have bought anything from you. We're not the only ones by all accounts. As you say, it doesn't matter any more, bit of a shame really.

Hey, I'm just making sure my point was made. Personally I think I did my upmost to help everyone who came through the door. Being called arrogant in such a dismissive way does irritate me I'll let that be said.

There was a bikelab in poole, dorset. which also disappeared. Everyone in the shop were so arrogant and unhelpful.

Glad they're gone, plenty of other shops around that want the trade.

Hey, I'm just making sure my point was made. Personally I think I did my upmost to help everyone who came through the door. Being called arrogant in such a dismissive way does irritate me I'll let that be said.

I see you've learned from your mistakes.... not.

I don't think anyone has said that you were arrogant just that apparently customers were an irritating distraction to whatever it was you were doing when you and your mate (or whoever it was) pointedly ignored two people coming into your shop with, how can I put it, an intention to spend a fair bit of money in it. So we didn't, my partner spent it in a shop that was super keen to make sure that she was happy.
And now your shop is bust. Hey ho. And you still don't get it.

"We opened a high-end bike shop in an affluent area at a time when cycling is booming. But we went bust. I wonder what went wrong?"

"Why don't we look on the internet, and find out what people are saying about the shop?"

"Good idea. Ah, here we are. There's a thread about us on Singletrack. Several people are saying they came into our shop to spend money, felt unwelcome and ignored, so they left."

"Wow, that's hard to take. But maybe we should acknowledge the honest feedback, and learn from this for our next business venture."

"Nah, I'll go on there and post a passive-aggressive denial, while at the same time basically acknowledging that it did indeed piss us off when people came into the shop. That'll show them, those potential-customer-bastards."

^ 😆

Lots of 'good' STW vituperative comments about this.

I had a a great experience with Bikelab in Richmond and bought a Lynskey Sportive. Loads of time was spent on fitting and on the subsequent build. Same year I also shopped at Bicycle in Richmond (excellent) and Sigma (OK). Personally I think it's a shame they have closed.

I think staff in some retail environments (of all types) have a 'profile' of their customers subconsciously on their mind.

If some one turns up who's outside of that perceived 'standard customer' mould then there's a tendency to see them as a waste of time.

I can see how this happens but, as has been highlighted above it can lead to losing potential customers.

hebdencyclist - Member

"We opened a high-end bike shop in an affluent area at a time when cycling is booming. But we went bust. I wonder what went wrong?"

"Why don't we look on the internet, and find out what people are saying about the shop?"

"Good idea. Ah, here we are. There's a thread about us on Singletrack. Several people are saying they came into our shop to spend money, felt unwelcome and ignored, so they left."

"Wow, that's hard to take. But maybe we should acknowledge the honest feedback, and learn from this for our next business venture."

"Nah, I'll go on there and post a passive-aggressive denial, while at the same time basically acknowledging that it did indeed piss us off when people came into the shop. That'll show them, those potential-customer-bastards."
Posted 5 hours ago # Report-Post

This ^^^^^