How to Start a Bike Shop

As more people get into physical fitness and avoid driving cars, biking has become more popular than ever. It’s hard not to notice the abundance of biking trails that are now permeating cities throughout the world. With so many places to ride bikes, getting involved in such a business is a great business opportunity. So if you’re thinking about how to start a bike shop, read on for more insight.

Find the Right Specialty

As you figure out how to start a bike shop, start by picking the right location. There are many different specialties of bikes to consider. Are you targeting beginners? Are you targeting mountain bikers? Do you want to specialize in being the used bike shop in town? How about electric bikes or road bikes? You can also offer different types of services at your bike shop. If you want to go beyond selling them, you may also want to incorporate maintenance and repairs.

To bike safely, people should also have the right equipment like helmets, gloves, clothing, and other gear. If you want to add bike accessories and gear to your list, that’ll provide additional streams of revenue. Then you could end up becoming a bike shop that’s considered a one-stop-shop among biking experts.

Consider Location

Do your research to ensure that your bike is an ideal location to start a business. If you’re in an urban area, it’s always a good idea to try to get a business downtown so you can get quick foot traffic. While you could still have a bike shop in a rural area, you may have to do extra advertising or place strategic banners in different parts of the city so people can find you. When it comes to location, think about how much it’ll cost to rent, lease, or buy your commercial property. After all, a business in a more thriving urban environment will likely come with a greater building expense. However, that expense may be offset if you have the right amount of customers coming in.

Install Storage

Like any other business, your bike shop will need plenty of storage. By utilizing cabinet refinishing services, you’ll easily enhance the appearance of your bike shop so people will be impressed the minute they walk in. If you have your bikes displayed through an open window as many other shops do, then people can see the ambiance and color scheme from the outside. Let cabinet refinishing professionals restore or update the original color or change the color of your existing shelves.

In other words, if your bike shop cabinets already have a solid structure, there’s no need to replace them and go through that extra expense and time. A cabinet refinishing professional can work their magic to make your existing shelves look like new. This type of upgrade can also protect your cabinets from moisture, scratches, dents, wear and tear, and anything else that may reduce their lifespan. As a result, the money you may have spent replacing your existing cabinets can be spent on other things such as buying more bikes, investing in advertisements, and so on. So you understand how to start a bike shop by simply enhancing existing features instead of doing a complete overhaul.

Organize Your Finances

Do you know how to start a bike shop when you’re not sure about document management? Luckily, there’s no need to stress out over that, since there are several ways to improve the efficiency of your bike shop’s administrative services. All businesses must keep track of their financial documentation. You can keep file cabinets to organize your hard copy documents as well as have ways to digitize your financial receipts. Document management software is a great way for you to be eco-friendly since you can reduce paper clutter and save space. Finding the right document software for you can help you streamline workflows so you can easily have a team of people working on your finances without there being any mishaps. They can also ensure that your business can protect its data from hacking and ensure that you remain within compliance.

A proper document management system will make things easier for you at tax time. Even if you’re working with an accountant, as you should, you want to have your documents easily accessible. Plus, you may need to look up documents related to your inventory so you know when to order bikes and what other type of upkeep you need to keep track of. You need to manage customer information as well as keep up with vendors.

Hire Staff

How to start a bike shop without people? Regardless of how many bikes and accessories you have, you’ll need some reliable staff to help you out. First of all, you need staff working inside the store. They should be people who either know about bikes or who are trainable and willing to learn about them. You need people who can provide excellent customer service, so people who want to keep coming back. Your staff should include salespeople, managers, and biking technicians. You may also want to outsource things such as marketing so you have the best professionals to handle your websites and social media accounts.

Create a Marketing Strategy

So you have the latest bikes available in your bike shop? It’s a great accomplishment to start with. But you need to know how to start a bike shop when people don’t know who you are yet. That’s why you need to understand the power of advertising and the various types available to you. For an affordable and powerful way to advertise your business, start with the right signage. According to recent surveys, people often use signage as a reason to go into a business for the first time. So you can easily entice someone who may not have been initially looking for a bike to come into your store and check things out by at the right custom banner and signs outside. One of the great things about advertising with signage is it’s something you can reuse over and over again without spending more money on it.

You can continue to generate interest in your business by utilizing the power of social media. Create accounts on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and even YouTube to showcase the type of bikes you have to offer. You can also encourage customer-generated content by having incentives for people who use your bikes to post about them online.

You can even run TV ads or video ads on YouTube. Podcasts are just as popular as ever, so you can even you can also run audio ads on podcasts and the radio. Prepare for the holiday season by gearing up extra advertising and preparing for sales like Black Friday, the Christmas rush, and so on. Don’t forget about the power of e-mail. Whenever a new customer comes into your store, ask them if they want to opt in by providing their e-mail on their profile. As a result, you can add them to your e-mail newsletter where you can keep them updated with new offers and sales at your bike shop. You can also send them personalized coupons and savings for their birthday or other holidays.

Upgrade Your HVAC System

Having a comfortable HVAC system isn’t just important for your home. It’s just as vital for your business. Remember, you and your employees have to be inside that bike shop all day. Plus, when customers visit, they want to be comfortable as well. So if customers come inside your shop and you don’t have air conditioning during the dog days of summer, don’t be surprised if people may turn around and walk out.

Commercial HVAC contractors can ensure your bike shop has the right ventilation, air filtration, and upgraded heating and cooling to keep your store as comfortable as possible. As a commercial business, there are certain rules and regulations you must abide by to ensure that your business is comfortable and safe for people to work in and visit as a customer. HVAC contractors can ensure you have the most energy-efficient units on your property so you can save money and reduce your carbon footprint while running the AC or heating unit as needed. So if you need to know how to start a bike shop and keep people comfortable, get started with your commercial HVAC contractors.

Install Security Features

Having a store full of brand-new bikes can be enticing not only for bike fans but also for potential thieves. Your bike shop is always as secure as possible, whether you’re working in the store or have shut down for the day. Imagine how much money your business would lose if somebody were to break in and steal your bikes. Contacting a commercial locksmith is how to start a bike shop that is as secure as possible.

A professional locksmith is an expert who knows how to replace or repair existing locks. However, these locksmiths don’t just handle your company doors. They can also rekey your safes, security systems, lockers, and anything that you want to keep secure. If you need to duplicate keys for your staff or need to call them in case of an emergency lockout, they’re available for you.

Get New Lighting

So how to start a bike shop that displays its inventory in the best way possible? Make sure you call your local electrical companies to install new lights. After all, it would be a shame if you had amazing high-speed or mountain bikes of the latest models, but they weren’t highlighted because of poor lighting. Electricians can enhance your overhead lights and install individual ones in strategic locations around our bike shop. Every bike or display area should have a spotlight or task light so people can see everything as clearly as possible. When people are looking through the window and into your store, they should see the type of bikes you have as far away as possible. After all, you want to be able to pull people in off the street.

Repair Your Roof

Never underestimate the value of professional commercial roofing services. A commercial roof should be as strong and reliable as a residential one. After all, a roof is a roof and is susceptible to the same problems regardless of the type of building it’s standing on. your roof protects your business from the elements such as rain, hail, snow, and UV rays. Investing in a commercial roofer who can either do sturdy repairs or a new installation is how to start a bike business that has a solid structure.

Consider asphalt roofing, metal, slate, ceramic tile, and more. The type of commercial roofing you pick can depend on the overall aesthetic quality you want to present on your building structure, as well as how long you want your roof to last. Asphalt tiling is highly symbolic and popular in American residential houses nationwide. These tiles can come in various colors and styles, and you can customize them to suit your building design. However, according to Bob Vila, metal and slate roofs can last 50 to 70 years. Therefore, if you install a sturdier type of roofing, it can help increase the value of your commercial property.

Invest in New Windows

How to start a bike shop that displays its bikes in the best ways possible? In addition to having beautiful interior displays, you should invest in new windows that quickly draw passersby in. After all, bikes are a very popular mode of transportation for many people. Bikes are way more accessible than cars, and people may be more likely to make a quick purchase of a bike than with a car or other vehicle. Take advantage of that by having large, strong, sturdy windows on your property that prominently display your bikes as needed.

Of course, you should make sure your interior windows are very secure. After all, you don’t want to make your windows easy prey for thieves to break into. Your window should consist of the sturdiest thief-resistant glass possible and should be attached to your security system.

Running a bike shop can provide a great service to the public that’s trying to avoid driving unnecessarily. Now that you know how to start a bike shop, you can get the ball rolling on a business that can be very lucrative and may be the beginning of a chain of stores. By following the list of steps above, you can quickly become a successful bike store owner.