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We
are two freaks who happen to love bikes. We
love riding them, we love building them, we love
fixing them. All kinds of bikes, from road to
touring, to mountain, to BMX, to fixie and
everything in between. Oh yeah and especially
our 700c coaster brake ZenCog.
We are not
only freaks, we are crazy. Who in their right
mind would start a bicycle shop when the Local
Bicycle Shop (LBS) industry is dying, and the
Internet is killing it? Not to mention the fixie and
single speed craze. How can a shop compete
with frames from a garbage can? How can they
compete with Internet pricing for components?
A branded industry relying on people getting
the newest lightest $3,000 bike is now replaced with
people bargain hunting for a bike that does not
require complex gearing and braking systems? Those
legacy customers that still want the high end newest
lightest stuff, are out there buying parts on the
Internet and asking the LBS to install them.
The shop is in a quandary, they relied on the
high markup of parts to help subsidize the large
shop and inventory they carry. They now must find a
way to make money simply from service, which is not
sufficient to cover the overhead and inventory.
ZenCog is not fighting the Internet, but working
with it. We have a media center that opens the
door for our customers to the Internet and we will
help find the right part, and will price it below
the LBS, and possibly at Internet pricing. The
customer just has to wait three to five days to get
it, as they would if they bought from the Internet.
This makes us a hybrid between pure play Internet
and bricks and mortar. It is an experiment,
and we are gambling with our life savings, not a
loan from the bank.
We are hoping that we add
value, and people will be willing to pay us a fair
price for service so that we can grow and flourish.
Not only here in Jax, but to other cities as well.
When someone buys a cup of coffee for five bucks at
Starbucks, they are paying for more than java, they
are paying for the feeling they get visiting the
coffee shop and drinking the best quality coffee in
the world. A much different feeling than brewing
Starbucks at home for a fraction of the cost.
ZenCog is hoping to create it's own unique aura
that will make customers feel at home to just come
in and chill with us, and buy through us rather than
around us.
If they don't. If you don't.
If you continue to shop from home, and bring the
part in for us to install, and negotiate us down, we
will not be here in a year. It's that simple.
If you love us - support us with dollars. If you
think we are just crazy panhandlers at the park, the
nickels won't keep us around. We can't be any
more honest than that.
We hope this makes
some sense to you, it does to us, but then again we
are crazy freaks!
Thanks for your time to
read our babble!
-- Clark and Garf |
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