Do any community bike shops have a partnership or agreement with another organization or store, such as a thrift store, to sell refurbished bikes? The Greasy Chain has a challenge of maintaining day time open hours, so we are exploring the option of having our refurbished shop bikes for sale at another store or location that is already open all day Mon-Fri, for example, that already has foot traffic, and thus potential for more sales.
Regards,
Ian Wassink Co-ordinator of The Greasy Chain Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada
Does anyone work with a wholesaler that will sell to a non-retail shop that has a large inventory of a variety of parts?
[PRD Logo for Email Signature] CHUCK MALAGODI outdoor recreation program coordinator o 505.768.2453 m 505.239.7210 cabq.gov/parksandrecreationhttps://www.cabq.gov/parksandrecreation/
We have a situation that has some similarity, although we actually have a reasonable amount of hours for people to come in to shop for bikes. I think this is a great idea that any shops with scarce hours should explore.
A local thrift store called Ithaca ReUse (larger organization, Finger Lakes ReUse) specifically has a mandate to save or recover things from the waste stream, so we're aligned somewhat in terms of mission. We've been discussing over time this sort of possibility, but for slightly different reasons.
They get a lot of bikes in totally random condition as donations, just like we do, although fewer. Unlike us, they have no provision for repair. They've been trying to work a deal with us for some time to have us repair the bikes they get in return for some of the profit. Similarly, though we've discussed it less often, we've talked about keeping some of our bikes there to sell.
The sticking points have been:
a) floor space at their location - at a retail store, floor space is, directly, money b) our time, already overstretched in repairing for sale the bikes we personally get as donations c) lacking the spare time (on either of our parts) to calculate and agree upon a percentage of profit that is reasonable in terms of reward and expense for both parties d) transport of our bikes to their location (none of us at Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles have trucks or trailers) e) their concern over liability, since bicycles are actually street legal vehicles, and the possibility for injury is high f) (this one is minor) how the bikes are branded, and how they might communicate to the buyer who the 30 day warranty we provide is from
Thus far, the situation has defaulted to them telling a lot of their donors who show up with bikes to bring them to us instead, unless the bike is in nearly perfect condition (also see e above). It's functional as-is, but doesn't address your situation.
FYI in case a thrift store you encounter is the same, our thrift store is possessive of the items it gets, including bicycles. For them, the second someone donates something, it becomes a retail asset that they ascribe monetary value to. Even though it didn't belong to them three seconds before and they paid nothing to acquire it, now, if it goes away without them deriving monetary profit, they see it as a loss. I see this as pretty weird.
If you can find an interested thrift store and hash out a sales percentage agreement, that might be all it takes for you to have a functional situation. I'd say transportation, floor space, and above all a good relationship with the store (with whom you have an agreement on paper) are probably the things you should prioritize.
We've also explored the idea of collecting bikes from them that they didn't want to sell. This is actually a standing agreement, and they leave these bikes out behind the store for us to pick up at our discretion. There is no expectation of compensation, they basically see it as a mutual service. For us, the transportation issue comes up, and also most of the bikes they reject for sale are of awful quality and repair in all respects and not really worth our effort.
Good luck and I hope our experience helps!
cyclista Nicholas
On 2018-11-15 22:13, Ian Wassink wrote:
Do any community bike shops have a partnership or agreement with another organization or store, such as a thrift store, to sell refurbished bikes? The Greasy Chain has a challenge of maintaining day time open hours, so we are exploring the option of having our refurbished shop bikes for sale at another store or location that is already open all day Mon-Fri, for example, that already has foot traffic, and thus potential for more sales.
Regards,
Ian Wassink Co-ordinator of The Greasy Chain Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada
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One other issue I forgot.
A lot of the bikes we sell end up with prices that the average thrift shopper would balk at; we'd price an average decent road bike, say a Puegot or a Univega, somewhere between $125 and $175, depending. Even the low end on that is a price the thrift store might regard as intimidating to a customer. In this case, branding them clearly as fully functional and coming from a repair shop might help in conveying the value the customer would be getting while simultaneously contributing to your reputation.
cyclista Nicholas
On 2018-11-17 09:30, Cyclista Nicholas wrote:
We have a situation that has some similarity, although we actually have a reasonable amount of hours for people to come in to shop for bikes. I think this is a great idea that any shops with scarce hours should explore.
A local thrift store called Ithaca ReUse (larger organization, Finger Lakes ReUse) specifically has a mandate to save or recover things from the waste stream, so we're aligned somewhat in terms of mission. We've been discussing over time this sort of possibility, but for slightly different reasons.
They get a lot of bikes in totally random condition as donations, just like we do, although fewer. Unlike us, they have no provision for repair. They've been trying to work a deal with us for some time to have us repair the bikes they get in return for some of the profit. Similarly, though we've discussed it less often, we've talked about keeping some of our bikes there to sell.
The sticking points have been:
a) floor space at their location - at a retail store, floor space is, directly, money b) our time, already overstretched in repairing for sale the bikes we personally get as donations c) lacking the spare time (on either of our parts) to calculate and agree upon a percentage of profit that is reasonable in terms of reward and expense for both parties d) transport of our bikes to their location (none of us at Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles have trucks or trailers) e) their concern over liability, since bicycles are actually street legal vehicles, and the possibility for injury is high f) (this one is minor) how the bikes are branded, and how they might communicate to the buyer who the 30 day warranty we provide is from
Thus far, the situation has defaulted to them telling a lot of their donors who show up with bikes to bring them to us instead, unless the bike is in nearly perfect condition (also see e above). It's functional as-is, but doesn't address your situation.
FYI in case a thrift store you encounter is the same, our thrift store is possessive of the items it gets, including bicycles. For them, the second someone donates something, it becomes a retail asset that they ascribe monetary value to. Even though it didn't belong to them three seconds before and they paid nothing to acquire it, now, if it goes away without them deriving monetary profit, they see it as a loss. I see this as pretty weird.
If you can find an interested thrift store and hash out a sales percentage agreement, that might be all it takes for you to have a functional situation. I'd say transportation, floor space, and above all a good relationship with the store (with whom you have an agreement on paper) are probably the things you should prioritize.
We've also explored the idea of collecting bikes from them that they didn't want to sell. This is actually a standing agreement, and they leave these bikes out behind the store for us to pick up at our discretion. There is no expectation of compensation, they basically see it as a mutual service. For us, the transportation issue comes up, and also most of the bikes they reject for sale are of awful quality and repair in all respects and not really worth our effort.
Good luck and I hope our experience helps!
cyclista Nicholas
On 2018-11-15 22:13, Ian Wassink wrote:
Do any community bike shops have a partnership or agreement with another organization or store, such as a thrift store, to sell refurbished bikes? The Greasy Chain has a challenge of maintaining day time open hours, so we are exploring the option of having our refurbished shop bikes for sale at another store or location that is already open all day Mon-Fri, for example, that already has foot traffic, and thus potential for more sales.
Regards,
Ian Wassink Co-ordinator of The Greasy Chain Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada
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We had an arrangement for a time with a local bike shop that happened to be next door to take some of our higher quality bikes on consignment. The owner knew our work and had confidence in it. He actually did not take his commission, considering it a donation. Floor space is definitely an issue for a bike shop, so they would have to have the space, and the consignment discount would have to be right for both parties. Peter Chace Bicycle Program Director Nasson Bike Center Springvale, Maine
On Thu, Nov 15, 2018 at 5:14 PM Ian Wassink ianwassink@gmail.com wrote:
Do any community bike shops have a partnership or agreement with another organization or store, such as a thrift store, to sell refurbished bikes? The Greasy Chain has a challenge of maintaining day time open hours, so we are exploring the option of having our refurbished shop bikes for sale at another store or location that is already open all day Mon-Fri, for example, that already has foot traffic, and thus potential for more sales.
Regards,
Ian Wassink Co-ordinator of The Greasy Chain Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada ____________________________________
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