Sinule

So something needs to change for bike shops to be competitive. I imagine it will be something similar to what has happened to newsagents and petrol stations all over the UK (and pubs before that). Local bike shops will have a "brand name" attached to them, get their stock exclusively through that brand name, who will get the stock from the distributors, and using their much larger buying power, will get it far cheaper, possibly even negotiating direct with suppliers in some cases on the LBS's behalf. It will mean LBS's lose a little of their independence which is sad, but it makes the business model more viable. This already exists to some extent, but as far as I can tell is nothing like as developed for bike shops as it is for other areas of the retail sector. Obviously my opinions are based on my experience of UK bike shops, primarily those based around the south east, the situation may be different in other parts of the world.