BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
For the past sixty years Condor Cycles’ frames and bikes have been available through the Gray’s Inn Road store, but now will be more widely available with the introduction of a stockist programme.
Bringing Condor product to customers based outside London, the network includes five stores with a further three stockists being added to the line-up in spring 2012.
Extensive recent growth for the family-run brand, now in its third generation, has led to the launch of the programme.
“Over the last year we’ve found our business has grown exponentially, with many people making long journeys to view the range and purchase a bike," explained Condor MD Grant Young. "Some customers chose to have their purchases shipped and that meant our customers weren’t experiencing Condor as we’d intended it: talking to our staff, choosing the colour, feeling the weight, and discussing the options. It is all part of loving the bike you ride.
"Our stockists make sure that a Condor owner can pop in for a chat, have a service, see new products and feel part of the brand, even if they haven’t visited the London store.
“We’ve never met Joe Bloggs; he doesn’t exist. So why should we try and shoe horn our customers into that ‘normal’ category when we know each one is different? No one wants to be ‘made to fit’. Each rider can choose their handlebar shape, bar tape colour, tyres, and so on, with advice from our staff. That service doesn’t incur an additional labour cost; in fact we offer the fitting service on our jig for free.”
Colin Lewis Cycles of Devon and County Cycles of South Wales have been Condor stockists for over eighteen months and have helped hone the B2B programme.
The five stockists offer the full Condor range, including the component range – including chainsets, sprockets and handlebars – which are available at a number of outlets but aren’t credited as stockists. A full list of Condor stockists can be found here – www.condorcycles.com/stockists.
