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I'd be interested to see what the relative turnover was between SJS (the physical shop), SJS (mail order), and Thorn Cycles; AIUI the reason (at least initially?) they have such a wide range of obscure stuff is that they're retrogrouchy cycle touring specialists at heart, and serve a similar clientele.* Spa Cycles fills a similar niche, albeit on a slightly smaller scale (and with added Yorkshire customer service...); I doubt there's the profit in it for it to be worth a big player's while.
*(Which, given the trad CTC member's aversion to spending money, would not seem like an immediate road to riches - IMO the 'Bandits of Bridgwater' nickname says as much about their customers as it does about SJS...)
Thrustvector
That only works as long as SJS is the only source of odd bolts, shims, stays, tape and widgets.
Which, I grant you, is likely.
But, if for e.g. Wiggle bought a warehouse full of such stuff then SJS would be reliant on existing customer loyalty to overcome the larger operations logistics operation.