My first bike shop job was in a small city shop that was Schwinn and the big BMX vendors at the time. BMX was on its way down, but was still somewhat popular. The second job I had was in the college town I lived in for beer money during the summer. I opened a low end box and found a Paramount inside. Seriously. The owner and GM freaked out more than I did, and said that it could have been a setup by Schwinn to judge dealer honesty. It was reported to corporate and they reclaimed the bike in the same box it was shipped in. No idea if it was a ‘test’, or just a screw-up on packaging.
The owner liked to tell the ‘joke’ that ‘How do you make a million dollars in the bike industry? Start with two!’, and it has been feast to famine, and now more famine given the direct to customer bent they are on. It’s sad to hear of any bike shop going down. I really loved, enjoyed, and learned a heck of a lot at the two shops I worked at. I’ve taken to building wheels and upgrades over the pandemic just to stay busy, and found it comforting to revisit the skills and experience of those days.
Can you ghost bike a bike shop? 