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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on December 16, 2010 at 6:17am

They opened up last spring like around May-June 2010 if I remember right.

There are many nice bicycle shops in and around the Logan Square/Bucktown area but The Bike Lane is by far my favorite.  I also wish it were the closest to me but we can't have everything. It's pretty easy to find right there on Milwaukee street across from the Congress Theater and it's huge scaffolding where its sign used to be.

 

Look for the scaffolding on Milwaukee and the Bike Lane is right across the street basically.  You can see it coming up for many blocks as you ride up/down Milwaukee on the way to the shop.

 

 

H3N3 said:

I guess it worked.  Now I've heard of The Bike Lane.

When did it open?

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Permalink Reply by Primitive Don on December 16, 2010 at 7:05am

Interesting. I'm surprised they'd true both wheels even for the normal price of $80. Will be interesting to see if this Groupon-style marketing works, particularly during a bike shop's off-season.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on December 16, 2010 at 8:09am

Or their customers have been riding bikes and getting yearly tune-ups for at least a year...

 

English is funny that way.

 

A little googling led me to this very fuzzy set of pictures on Flikr, which leads me to believe their grand opening party was held on 5-Jun-2010.  Maybe they hold a grand opening party every year? ;)

 

Then I can't wait until the one next year.  I'll be sure to make it.  It looks like from those pictures that the one this spring was a real  hootenanny.

 

H3N3 said:

"It's that time of year again" (i.e. "it's time for our big winter sale again") pretty clearly implies they've been open at least a year.

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on December 16, 2010 at 9:16am

I think that a seasonal affected business (like bike shops) is one of the few areas where this Groupon thingy might work: The shop owner is able to offset some fixed costs (rent/inventory) against additional business. In this case they should be able to tune up a bike for less than $20 in labor and material costs. (25% of MSRP being the average revenue that the retailer receives from each coupon sold).

 

Hopefully they don't care too much about building repeat customers and up-sell opportunities. Lack of repeat customers and up-sell opportunity is what has some Groupon retailers disappointed. Most customers see a good one-time deal and have no intention of going back.

 

Interesting thing here is that two previous tune up deals went to Groupon. This one goes through a competitor. The Groupon deals sold hundreds (if I remember correctly) while this one sold 7 so far. I guess there is value in building quality subscriber lists and having the first mover advantage. Something I always thought was minimal, with a business that has a low barrier for entry like Groupon

 

Primitive Don said:

Interesting. I'm surprised they'd true both wheels even for the normal price of $80. Will be interesting to see if this Groupon-style marketing works, particularly during a bike shop's off-season.

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