It has happened several times in Toronto. I'd say the opposite is beneficial. When a group gets too big, they lose something.

It happens every few decades. Groups lose faith and merge, but it never ends well.

My group lost a lot of its integrity when they focused on the massive rent due every month. We all worked for the landlord and not the community.

Mandates get lost, and members leave from burnout.

The smaller the operation, the better. Especially in a city like Montreal.

On Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 2:13 a.m. Emory Shaw via TheThinkTank <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:

HI all,

I'm just doing a bit of research and I figured this would be a good place to ask a question: does anyone know of a case where community bike shops have united together to form some kind of federation or coalition ? Many cities are dotted with such shops that tend to share a similar social mission: are there any examples of cities or regions where they have come together to better address shared challenges (re volunteers, suppliers, financing etc.)? It would be great to get some insight on this, as there are talks of doing this kind of thing in the city I'm in (Montreal). I'm curious to know if and how other places might have succeeded or not at achieving this. Any thoughts or leads would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Emory
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