It’s been said that there is nothing new under the sun; and, while that might be true, it’s more likely that there are new versions of old ideas and we hope we are about to launch one.
When HubBub Custom Bicycles opened in February of 1997, our intention was to offer custom bicycles, bicycle repair, and the items that were mentioned in the book, The HubBub Guide to Cycling. We sort of strayed away from that concept when we expanded our retail offerings – more accessories, apparel, footwear, and those things that make up the “full service bike shop”. It seemed difficult to really “pare down” to the exact business model we really wanted.
So, here were are, about to being our 14th year, and we have come full circle… we are about to launch the custom only concept in what we hope will be a format that really showcases our expertise without the burden of hanging out in a full retail environment day in and day out – waiting for someone to “drop through the door”. Now, before you say – “wow – that’s arrogant!” let me explain.
When someone wants to come in and talk about a custom bicycle, a component upgrade, or even a new pair of custom wheels, s/he is also talking about not only spending a lot of money but also putting their trust in us. We want to be able to give our FULL ATTENTION to that person – without interruption. (We have always tried to schedule repairs, so this isn’t much of a change.)
We did not come to this conclusion arbitrarily by the way.
In the past 12-15 months, I would venture to say that 90% of the people who actually came to the shop – for any reason - did so AFTER a phone call asking if/when would be a good time to come in. That doesn’t leave a lot of people who just walked through the door unexpectedly; but, it did leave a lot of hours that we needed to be here and WAIT for someone to come through the door; and, not be able to start projects that take a lot of concentration and time. A custom single bike may take anywhere from 8-15 hours to build, including wheels, and when a promise of delivery is made, it’s frustrating to us and often a disappointment to the customer whose bike isn’t ready when expected.
Our new idea is really an old idea that we are putting into practice in a new way – one-on-one customer service every day. There will be a few exceptions during the week; we are required by many of our vendors to actually have open retail hours. We will post them as we always have.
So, we’re hoping to launch our new location in a few weeks; as with everything else, it takes twice as long as we expect to get the details in place. We think you’ll like the results. Stay tuned!
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