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Bicycle shops’ inventory
While the coronavirus pandemic has shuttered many businesses this spring, local bicycle shops have seen record numbers as people are stuck at home and are looking for a way to exercise. Yet the shops are also being bit by the virus, due to its effects on the other side of the world.
Included in the governor’s list of “essential businesses,” bicycle shops have been permitted to keep their doors open even while others have been ordered closed. Pat Bolduc, who runs the bicycle operation at Piche’s Ski and Sport in Gilford, said service has been able to continue without a “hiccup.” Sales, on the other hand, are about to hit a rough patch, due to the supply chain that delivers new bicycles to local showrooms.
Most bikes, especially those made for children or the entry-level adult category, are made in Asia, where production was shut down when the coronavirus infection began spreading in China. Bolduc said he’s sold out of most of his inventory, and has just a “very limited” supply remaining.
A few miles down the road, Myles Chase at MC Cycle and Sport said he’s seen much of the same thing. He said his spring has been “definitely above average.”
This year, though, MC Cycle’s spring inventory started to dry up by mid-March, about a month and a half earlier than usual.
He said he doesn’t know how soon his suppliers will be able to send him another delivery.
“They really don’t have a firm date on it yet, because like most of the bike brands out there, our price-point bikes are made in China, and their factories shut down 12, 16 weeks ago. At that time they would be working on our summertime inventory. Unless the brands expedite things, we could be without bikes for some time,” Chase said.
“The inventory is not even available for us to order,” said Steve Flagg, owner of The Nordic Skier in Wolfeboro. His shop deals in cross-country skis in the winter and switches to bicycles once the snow melts. Flagg said his shop has seen an unusually heavy repair load this year.
“It’s always busier in the spring for bike shops, but it’s got to be related to the current pandemic,” Flagg said, adding that he’s getting close to sold-out for new bikes.
And if customers can’t get a new one, they want to get their old bike road-worthy.
“There definitely seems to be a lot of people bringing in their old bikes, they haven’t ridden it in years, they need a tune up and new tires. A lot of it is driven by what the world is experiencing,” Flagg said.
