Do you remember when you were a kid, and you could walk into a store to buy something because you knew that you could only get it there? Maybe it was a candy bar, or like it was for many of us, a new bike from your local bike shop! Either way, that feeling still brings so much joy to this day.
Before purchasing things online became the norm, the support from customers like yourself, going into shops all over town, helped to keep bike shops in business and drive the growth of the economy. Companies that only sell online hurt the local economy in many ways. It reduces the amount of sales tax collected by the state, town, and counties for infrastructure. This can and does directly affect teachers, firefighters, law enforcement, and the development of new city projects — for example, bike lanes.
During the holiday season, it can “make more sense” to hop online and look at bikes that are heavily discounted. Some bikes even have the sales tax chopped off. The problem is that typically, you can get deals just like that in-store. There are a plethora of benefits to buying local, but we’ll talk about that soon. The increase in online sales seems to correlate with fewer local jobs and more economic losses directly.
Why Buy In-Store?
The photo above is from a 1970s bike catalog. In a nutshell, it explains why it’s so important to purchase your new bike in a store. When you order a new electric bike, wait for it to arrive, and then need it assembled, where are you going to go? Unless you have the tools and know what you’re doing, you’ll need to find a local bike shop for bike assembly. Hopefully, The Bike Shop California or Santa Monica is close enough, and we will graciously help out. Ultimately, the service, support, and warranty help you’ll receive make purchasing in-store that much better for reasons just like this. Having a bike already built up and ready for you is only one less step you have to take.
Who Supports Who?
The differences in buying local come when a customer walks into a shop expecting a job to get done quickly because it’s “easy.” It automatically puts down the hard work that mechanics put into fixing bikes. Sometimes a flat tire is more than just a piece of glass puncturing your tire and tube. Sometimes, the rim itself has an issue, and until you take apart the wheel, you’ll never really know. That 10-minute job just became 30.
Most employees at bike shops have spent many years learning and developing their skills to be able to fix and maintain all kinds of bikes. The work that goes into a bike shop is nowhere near as easy as setting up an online shop and pressing a few buttons to send the bike from a distributor. When you purchase a bike at The Bike Shop California or The Bike Shop Santa Monica, you automatically have an entire team of mechanics ready to help sort out all of your cycling needs. These are trained professionals that can fix anything and everything on your bike.
Another benefit, as mentioned above, with supporting your local bike shop, is when/if you have a warranty issue. It can be complicated to get ahold of larger companies due to their size. When you have a bike shop take care of it for you, it takes most of the pressure off of you, the customer.
Bike Shops Support You!
The goal of our bike shop is to provide the utmost in support and service to you and your bike.
It’s understandable to buy your tubes and tires online because it may be cheaper, but all those little things add up. The price of rent in most places is increasing exponentially. Therefore, local shops need to make even more money to keep operations in order continually. Hence, the inventory stocked, so you have a selection to choose from, the employees paid (and happy), and the management is taken care of. Many times, a problem arises when a bike is purchased online, and then it’s brought in to a bike shop to be built.
Buying online only supports online companies. Buying cheaply online especially hurts the bike shops unless you’re like us and have an online shop as well. The thing that some people miss out on is that when you purchase a cheap and inexpensive bike online, you can end up spending more on repairs to keep it running. The other problem? Some of these bikes are what we like to call “disposable”. Similar to how your paper and plastic party cups get thrown away, the cheaper the bike, the faster it’s gets tossed. That serves nobody – including yourself, and the environment.
You can come to a bike shop and get discounts on a better bike that will last longer and much more. The one thing you can’t get online though is limited or free repairs when you purchase your new bike.
What We Offer
Something that we offer on every single one of our new bike purchases, whether it’s an e-bike, mountain bike, road bike or city bike, is free adjustments. For the less “mechanically-inclined,” this is the best deal in town. A lot of places limit their service to one year or even six months. If you ride your bike very often, then that can bring up a few different issues. The more you ride, the more service your bike needs. If you don’t have the necessary skills to work on your bike yourself, then every time you bring it in, that’s a minimum of $15-$35 shelled out of pocket. Add that up a few times a year, including an in-depth service, which can cost $85 or more. Now you may have racked up over $150 in bike service charges…excluding parts.
Support What You Value
The purpose is to inform you solely of the benefits of buying local and supporting your local bike shop. Moving further into the future of transportation, eliminating waste and byproducts becomes a growing topic that needs to be addressed. The fewer cars there are on the road, the less pollution there will be in densely populated areas. Ride a bike, support your local bike shop, and make your positive impact on this planet.
If you’re feeling inclined to purchase a new bike from your local bike shop, The Bike Shop California, and The Bike Shop Santa Monica have set up shop online and are servicing all of the surrounding cities. That includes Culver City, Venice, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Marina Del Rey, Playa Vista, Playa Del Rey, and more. We have all kinds of bikes for sale, specializing in e-bike assembly, standard bicycle assembly, and custom projects.
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For more information and detailed specs on our complete range of bikes and accessories, you can head over to the link below.
Give us a call at (310) 838-9644 or come on by the shop for bike repair, bike assembly or an electric bike in Culver City and Santa Monica.
If you’re looking for an electric bike shop online, then go to our webshop HERE – https://bikeshopcalifornia.com/shop/
Follow Us
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bikeshopca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BikeShopCa/
Santa Monica Location: https://wwww.bikeshopsantamonica.com
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Author: Mitchell Dick, LiveTravelCycle.com
