Tokyo Fixed / Kinoko Cycles

Hope everything works out ok for the affected staff! Sad news!

Too true Yukirin, Those guys are truly decent chaps, I hope they find new roles even more rewarding - A real shame this door is closing.

Echo this sentiment, have always found the staff friendly & helpful.

Wow, was just there a couple weekends ago. Agree staff very friendly & helpful. Perhaps a closing sale in the future?

They said there will be mad reductions primarily in store so may be worth heading up there in a few weeks.

I can only say the same as others, the staff were always very good. Whatever you guys go on to next you all have a great reputation in my eyes.

I don't know if there are any parallels here with Tour de villes' short lived store in London Fields? I felt the same when they opened as I did when Kinoko set up shop - cool people, cool location, very cool stock - and great coffee BUT are there going to be enough average punters handing over the cash day after day buying average stuff in order to make it thrive?

Anyway, good luck with the online venture and see you at the sale.

It's hard to survived without at least offering some cheap hybrid bikes to sell regularly.

It's a shame such an important destination shop had to close. I would have thought that the biggest threat to them might have come from showrooming and subsequent Internet sales?

I thought Tour de Ville's location was rubbish, though. It was in a part of town I like very much, but it was out of the way, no passing trade, and it never became well-known. To be quite honest, I didn't think Golden Square was such a good location for a bike shop, either.

All of the above points should be taken under the proviso that I don't actually know anything about retail at all and am probably talking bollocks. :)

TF seemed a good example of a great shop that brings trade in regardless of its location. Word of mouth will mean that people actively seek out the shop, and make that area more desirable for similar retail. Kinoko had the same potential, but the bottom line in retail is incredibly small. My impression of the jump from a shop like TF to one like Kinoko was quite a big one.

This is very sad indeed. Although I had some initial issues with TFG (it was subsequently run significantly better when Jammy and Bobby were latterly involved) I unfortunately left the UK prior to the inception of Kinoko.

A bigger store will always create problems. Bigger stores require more staff whom are all a cost. It takes years to build the kind of reputation which Brixton Cycles has and the overheads in Soho are ludicrous. Whilst there are still some smaller independent retailers still floating around in that area, landlords are becoming more inclined to accept money from corporates who have a seemingly never ending supply of cash and can sign longer agreements.

Maybe two smaller shops would have been a better idea - one in London and one in Leeds or Manchester? Or try pop-up shops - there were plenty of empty retail spaces all over London when I left.

I guess we'll never know.

they'll be back I'm sure. they'll close, make some money from online sales of exclusive gear, bank that and open again when they have more liquidity. as horrible as it must be for the staff who are enevitably going to be let go, it's better to close the bricks and mortar shop rather than hang onto it and go bankrupt.

it was a great shop and the staff were fantastic, it'll be sorely missed even just as a retreat while my gf went shopping

Same as the rest, sad to hear the news.
It's been a great shop as they always had some stock that others didn't, sometimes the only option of picking it up in London.

Hope things go well for them in a future.

They may have moved/ rebranded in the first place as a way to try and revamp a struggling business, or have a big promo before going online only. Or both.

Either way, hopefully the they stay strong online. Should run regular pop-up events, rides, etc., as a way to stay 'cool' and in mind.

I must look wrong.
I found some of the more recent, post-TFG staff to lack a certain level of charm or customer service.
That said, I wouldn't wish redundancy on any one and did enjoy visiting the shop.
The TFG years were a highlight and I'd like to see the return of a bike shop almost entirely devoted to FiXiEbIkE cUlTuRe, a la King Kog or Keirin Cafe.
That's because I am a hipster nobhead. Who looks wrong, of course.

Sad news, as above, liked the store and the people. I hope they all move onto other things that suit them. I partly blame myself for resisting the strong urge to spend more there. Will now have to find somewhere else to build the wide open frame I bought there.

This is a shame, I liked the people and the shop.

It's interesting that they are going web-only, in the regard that I have never, once, found an item for sale in their webshop by using Google.

What I mean by that is if I search "Catlike Mixino" they are literally nowhere - or anything else, for that matter.

I've bought stuff from them, both online and off - but it's been as a result of walking into the shop and seeing something I want/on sale/both.

I think that they need to look at search ranking/all that bollocks, else without a destination shop there's little to direct people to their digital presence.

yeah i've noticed that.. it looks like theyre not submitted at all to google shopping which id guess is the first step

Because, as you point out, you have to 'submit'.

They'll certainly need to work on their awareness and visibility long term without a shop to remind people they exist. I guess they've built up a large customer following over the years and will live on that until funds allow them to...do whatever it is they want to do.

Im assuming there USP will be stocking things that nobody else in the UK/Europe stock. Things like SAS and Narifuri are pretty much exclusive to them as far as I can tell. Seems like a reasonable idea to me rather than trying to compete with the likes of wiggle for more common items.

Isn't the usual business plan, close the store, design a highpro, offer it in a range of colours and called it bespunked?

Signing up with Trek for the Project 1 thing was a massive, massive Batsignal for roadie douches to avoid, avoid. Lemond / Lance thing still raw for lots of people.

Trying to think of a brand the exact opposite of what I thought TFG/Kinoko was about and Trek is it.

Really? Cause Trek still sell shitload despite this.

Yes, really.

It's a real shame to hear this as they have some great stuff that nobody else does. Other than the high turnover needed to maintain a Soho store, I've never really found the 'newer' members of staff to be as personable as the original Tokyo fixed guys, so my heart really goes out to the likes of jammy and Jamie. Hopefully they'll bounce back better than ever.

Gonna be gutted to see this shop go, it was a lovely place with a nice supply of track parts and flashy bikes as well as a great place to meet up for coffee and chatting about bikes :( good luck to everyone working there.