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I am sure there are a number of bike shop owners on here. What are your experiences? Is it living the dream or barely breaking even? not that the two should be mutually exclusive!
To end up with a million quid....................................................................................................................................................................................
you need to start off with two!
<says Nigel from my LBS> 😉
a mate owned one ... he had a heart attack in his early 40's 😯
it depends on you
if you run it dispassionately, as a business, exploit your local markets, focus on your core business and actually provde a service that a lot of people want then yes
if you run it as a way to get cheap bike parts and hang out with your mates then no.
In my view, the biggest danger is that instead of turning your work into a hobby, you turn your hobby into work.
I think its all down to the personality of the owner and how much energy they put in. There are some great LBSs with loyal customers who seem to turn a profit,but there are many more that just scrape by (or not as the case may be).
I ran a shop for eight years before finally leaving earlier this year. Not as rosy & fun as you might think!
Donn't get me wrong it had it's moments, met some great people but you do tend to lose your hobby & the hours can be madness for the return. WHat you want to sell/need to sell are often two VERY different things. You do need to aim for the market that is there & not the market you want to sell to.
I left in the end to run my own business-out of the bike trade to stand a better chance of earning a reasonable living.
But bets of luck if you want to give it a go-would seriously advise getting some decent experiece working in one before setting up though if that's what you're thinking.
Mainly a dream when the spreadsheets start to get at me... But you never know. Ho Hum, back to the day job!
Dear god you work with spreadsheets? Surely anything will be better then that 😀
They come my way every now and again and it makes me want to pull the eject cord. Dreaming about my night ride tonight so all is good again!!!
Its like anything.
Some people can make a hairdressers prosper, where some would flounder. Some could grow a chain of bakers where others would just break even.
Its down to business acumen. Pure and simple.