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Businesses fail (or just close) all the time. Most new businesses fail. If the closure of one example business means the basic concept doesn't work, restaurants are clearly a bad idea doomed to extinction.
I'd imagine that Sigma or Mosquito have more in common with Bike Room that that lot, and I know at least Velorution isn't exactly a poster-boy for economic viability :)
The examples I cited are more leisure bikes than hardcore roadie but still, overpriced and aiming at the well-heeled. As for Velorution's busines model, it can take several years to turn a viable business into a profitable one. Smart money knows that.
itsbruce-
Absolutely. And we don't know what their plan is, or as I said whether they even need to make to money. Who knows what agreements etc. they have.
Doesn't stop us from looking at it and scratching our heads though :)
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That's a bad analogy, what's being compared is types of bike shops, not the concept of bike shops overall.
That said, all the shops you listed sell bikes that would be consider mid-range to lower-end as well as expensive rides. I grant that that can work with a focus on selling splashy stuff to people with money to throw around. What I don't think will work is a shop that has nothing but high-end stuff; perhaps that's not what this new store will do, but that was my understanding. People with money to throw around are ultimately not interested in buying high-performance carbon TT bikes, unless they are in which case they already have one.
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As for Velorution's busines model, it can take several years to turn a viable business into a profitable one. Smart money knows that.
Velorution has been around for at least a decade. The original owner - of some infamy on here - sold out to Cycle Rublic (who already had a concession in Selfridges IIRC). I don't know what the deal was, but IIRC he had made all his money in banking. We bought some of the store's shelves from him.
Howard
nohwol
Yeahbut kinoko