[Angus]

Yesterday, I had some time to kill so I popped into one of my LBS's.
They have been a retail outlet and a online store under two differnt names, recently they have dropped the local name and are just using the web name competitive cyclist, and they carry some really nice eye candy.

I hadn't been in there for awhile so I was suprised to see that there floor inventory was greatly less than it used to be about 40% less bikes on the floor, also they where no longer carrying mainstream bikes(they had Trek Road bikes and the entire C'dale line before)
there approach is now strictly high end, and that in itself is not wrong
if a company wants to focus on bikes where the starting price is well over 2k and some go past 10k more power to them, I love looking at sweet rides.
I guess I got a bad taste in my mouth from being ignored, I was on their sales floor about 20 minutes and nobody greeted me. There where at least 5 people behind the counter answering phones, tinkering or milling about, nobody took time to say hi, or need any help. One older guy (I am 40) who had been on the phone suddenly bolted up and started walking briskly my way, but he didn't stop to greet me or anything he avoided eye contact and briskly kept walking out the front door.

I am in sales and I dress accordingly so It wasn't like I was dressed like a bum that had no money, there just was nobody interested in addressing anybody on the sales floor. Just to see if I would get some attention I took down a couple of frames to look at, they are mounted high enough that its a tippeetoe reach for me.
I took down a real pretty Peregotti fat leg emma. here is a frame that is work of art and cost more than my entire road bike, and after holding it for a few minutes still no reaction from the peanut gallery, so I got bored and left. All I can think of if there customer service is that poor on the sales floor how do they perform as a mailorder company???

 

[N8 v2.0]

In Little Rock?

 

[amydalayna]

that's very odd. usually i get the same sort of attention, but it's because i dress like a slacker.
people assume that fairly young + slacker clothes = no money

 

[Angus]

yep, used to be bikeseller

 

[DHS]

that's very odd. usually i get the same sort of attention, but it's because i dress like a slacker.
people assume that fairly young + slacker clothes = no money

or maybe cause your a chick...
those are rare in bike shops

 

[golgiaparatus]

Should have dropped said expensive frame on the ground... with the ringing clang it would have made you would have surely gotten some attention.

 

[pnj]

i hate bike shops.

 

[Angus]

Should have dropped said expensive frame on the ground... with the ringing clang it would have made you would have surely gotten some attention.

I actually had that thought but have to much respect for Peregotti's work, now if it would have been an opera bike on the other hand....

 

[sanjuro]

that's very odd. usually i get the same sort of attention, but it's because i dress like a slacker.
people assume that fairly young + slacker clothes = no money

You get bad service because you look like a local. If you dressed like you were from San Francisco, salespeople would run over trying to get the money out of your pocket.

 

[I Are Baboon]

How exactly does one dress like they are from San Francisco?

Actually, I don't wanna know.

 

[Carbon Fetish]

A bike shop gone bad is Supergo dropping Specialized and picking up GT, Schwinn and Mongoose. And to top it all off, the chain of stores change to Performance Bicycles. This coming Sunday will be my last day working at a bike shop.

 

[sanjuro]

I took down a real pretty Peregotti fat leg emma. here is a frame that is work of art and cost more than my entire road bike, and after holding it for a few minutes still no reaction from the peanut gallery, so I got bored and left. All I can think of if there customer service is that poor on the sales floor how do they perform as a mailorder company???

I visit a lot of shops, and I noticed that most of them won't acknowledge you when you walk in (although I hate shops with "greeters", usually a newbie), and many times will ignore you until you ask for help.

I always say hey or hi when you first walk in. I usually don't run right over though, but unless I am busy I get over in about a minute and chat it up.

 

[sanjuro]

How exactly does one dress like they are from San Francisco?

Actually, I don't wanna know.

If you don't know, I can't tell you. It's a SF thing...

 

[amydalayna]

or maybe cause your a chick...
those are rare in bike shops

it's a bummer, because a lot of times peole assume that cause yr a girl that you don't have the knowledge to communicate about bikes. not cool.

sanjuro..... pig iron in connecticut was always cool to me... but that could be becauase matt thought we would hook up someday in that back room. either way, they never treated me like an idiot.

 

[amydalayna]

If you don't know, I can't tell you. It's a SF thing...

i don't think that your plan actually works. remember the last time you went to the bike shop up in south lake? they weren't too keen on a 'tourist' riding the local dh trails.

 

[sanjuro]

it's a bummer, because a lot of times peole assume that cause yr a girl that you don't have the knowledge to communicate about bikes. not cool.

sanjuro..... pig iron in connecticut was always cool to me... but that could be becauase matt thought we would hook up someday in that back room. either way, they never treated me like an idiot.

Bill was the mack daddie of shop owners. We used to say he was Pig Iron's best ASSet.

I heard they had a tri clinic where 5 women showed up with a pitcher of daiquiries to watch Bill strut his stuff. He was smooth with the lady customers.

 

[amydalayna]

Bill was the mack daddie of shop owners. We used to say he was Pig Iron's best ASSet.

I heard they had a tri clinic where 5 women showed up with a pitcher of daiquiries to watch Bill strut his stuff. He was smooth with the lady customers.

For the CT monkeys.... pig iron is awesome. even if you don't go to oggle bill the shop owner. though that is a plus.

i wish i had a shop like that out here. a shop that put on drunken night rides.... and had a place for people to ride their trainers all winter.... i miss it so.

 

[PatBranch]

Cambria bikes (CBO) in San Luis Obispo,CA is an awsome place. They carry good bikes, are always nice, and helpfull. They also have good prices (if not they pricematch).