There are fears that Evans Cycles, the UK’s largest specialist bricks-and-mortar cycling retailer, could become the latest victim of the crisis gripping the country’s High Street retail sector.
Sky News reports that ECI Partners, the private equity owners of the business founded in south London as FW Evans in 1921, are inviting bids for the business by the end of next week.
Companies approached by PricewaterhouseCoopers, appointed earlier this month by ECI Partners to explore options for the business, include other private equity firms and retailers, as well as retail turnaround specialists.
According to Sky News, it is unclear whether a potential buyer of the business, which trades from around 60 stores having expanded steadily outside its London and the south east heartland in recent years, might look to secure a company voluntary arrangement to close underperforming stores.
In common with many other businesses that trade principally from physical stores, Evans Cycles has been hit by competition from both specialist online-only retailers, as well as general internet-based retailers and, in particular, Amazon.
Price competition has squeezed margins, and at the same time the High Street has been hit by rising overheads, with a number of household names including House of Fraser and Mothercare running into major financial difficulties in recent months.
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40 comments
Mike Ashley probably can’t believe his luck.
I’ve had generally really good customer service from my local Evans. I don’t imagine they pay well but most of the guys and girls in there are very helpful despite being understaffed. Hopefully they won’t all be made zero hours fodder under the new owner, or out of a job altogether
Well the model worked for a while, so someone presumably made some money out of this.
Rapha on the run as well.
Have Southern ponces run out of money now or have they been transferred to Frankfurt/Dublin already?
Buying the majority of the products they sell from abroad with the weakened Pound for the last two years can't have helped. And they'll be lucky if they can find a buyer willing to take a punt in the current uncertain climate.
I guess we could always remoan,,,,er, remain :-)... My apologies, politics and cycling don't mix.
Another sorry tale of a decent shop being taken over by PE, leveraged to the hilt on the back of a boom (in cycling), and then being unable to meet its creditors. I hate to say it, but for the LBS this is probably a good thing....question is, who else is out there swimming with no trunks? I guess we'll find out soon because the tide is going out.
At least we can be pleased that Condor never took the route to becoming a chain store. Once upon a time, The Cut and Gray's Inn Road were two of my favourite destinations. Others like Ken Bird, T. J. Quick, Allin, etc. are distant memories. It's sad when excellent cycle shops shut, but even sadder when they debase themselves first.
If you're like me then there's only so many things you can keep on buying. Bikes don't go through consumables at any great rate and I've got more jerseys than days of the week now.
Other than a groupset upgrade I can't see any reason to spend much more on my main bike and probably loads of other cyclists are the same. Once you add the prices that come with bricks and mortar retailing then count me out of most purchases. Most of the time at Evans it's a case of that looks nice until you get hold of the price tag.
Unfortunately I walk into their stores and only walk out with a couple of gels or something smaller. I'm not their kind of customer
Their prices are too high for my pocket, compared to other online stores and I wouldn't buy a complete new bike. Nice to browse the castelli stock
However, I do buy from them online, as I shop around and sometimes they do come out on top, price wise.
Maybe that's their future, cut back on expensive under performing shops and focus more on the online.
I've always had good service from Evans and am sad to see it in trouble.
Another classic case of loading up a business with debt and expanding too aggressively.
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