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news
Evans Cycles opens new shop at Leeds railway station
Evans Cycles has opened a new shop at Leeds railway station, replacing a branch that closed last year on nearby New Station Street.
Covering more than 400 square meters over two floors, more than 70 bikes will be kept in stock for customers to test ride, and the store also has a fully equipped workshop.
The retailer also takes full control of the station’s secure cycle park - previously run in partnership with CyclePoint and where Evans had its second Leeds store - and which has 196 spaces, costing £1.50 per day.
Matthew Atkinson, the company’s head of retail, said: “We are hugely excited to announce the opening of our new store at Leeds Station and to be back home in the CyclePoint unit.
“Network Rail, Leeds City Council and Evans Cycles have all worked together to reopen this vital facility for Leeds cyclists.
“We have invested in a substantial refurbishment and the facility now offers secure bike parking and an excellent range of products from leading brands including Trek, Pinnacle and Brompton.
“Our expanded workshop, along with our 24 hour service guarantee will keep our customers riding throughout the year.”
He added: “We have an exciting pipeline of activity planned for 2020 and look forward to sharing more store openings later in the year.”
The store will be open from 7am-7pm Monday-Friday, 8am-7pm on Saturday and 10am-6pm on Sunday, while on bank holidays it will trade from 9am-5pm.
The new opening means that there are now 52 stores within the Evans Cycles estate.
Atkinson’s mention of future openings suggests that many of the feared wave of closures when Mike Ashley’s Sport’s Direct Group bought Evans out of administration in October 2018 will not happen.
The retailer traded from 62 stores at the time of the deal, with Ashley saying: “In order to save the business, we only believe we will be able to keep 50 per cent of stores open in the future.”
We reported earlier this month how, according to one of the company’s employees involved in the takeover of an Evans branch Instagram account renamed Make Evans Great Again, uncertainty over branch closures was one of the issues said to be affecting staff morale at the business.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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13 comments
I had read that almost all of the original 62 Evans stores were profitable, however the huge "Head Office" costs had dragged the group into a loss. Undoubtedly many head office types have been sacked, and the profitable stores retained.
It was brought by a private equity firm a while back, I'm guessing in a massively leveraged buyout, which would then add all of that debt to the books, turning what was a mildly profitable business into a hugely debt laden business.
I could be wrong, but it does seem like a fairly common practice.
I'm confused... Surely in the centre of the city you want the parking to be secure overnight and then in the suburbs you want it to be during the day?
Much more of this should be happening, create cycling 'hubs'. I know that Londinium railway stations are prime retail space but the rest of the country often has dead space in or around stations.
The ability to repair whilst at work, secure park, purchase spares or clothing to reflect the weather etc. would be hugely beneficial.
As for secure cycle parking, surely there's a technology to allow a code to be sent to a cyclist on a delayed train etc. Advertise it as secure between the opening hours and partly secure after that - still got to be better than on or near a platform.
Realted(ish), Crewe station has the British Transport Police office right next to it and cycle 'parking' within 10 metres. Riding past recently there were signs advising not to use the space as there had been a lot of thefts!!!
still the cycle parking hours be aligned with the store or will it be 24/7?
Sidenote Reading Evans store has a "To Let - retail store" sign above it.
And - what happens if Evans goes bust completely, or decides to close that store again? Does the cycle parking facility go down with it?
Probably. I imagine it is a contracted service, with Evans having taken over the contract to run it as part of opening the new store.
Would be a shame to lose the Reading store.
But it is in an odd position.
It's the other side of the Inner Distribution Road from the rest of town, the Oracle and the Oracle's car park.
The Cycle Republic's site, next to the train station seems better.
Reading has lost a fair few bicycle shops. I did like Action Cycles.
I'm very pleased that the very excellent AW Cycles is still going strong, more of a store you go to as it is a bit out of the main centre of Caversham. But worth it
I bought a fantastic Ridgeback fast hybrid from AW years ago, great bike shop. Nexus hub gears, conti slicks, coaster brakes. Was great until it got nicked (because Reading)
Cycle parking is only 7am - 7pm, missed opportunity there.
Fixed rate of £1.50/day, no discounted weekly or monthly / annual memberships (which used to come with a swipe card to gain access out of hours of the shop).
This was from the old leaflet:
That makes a huge amount of sense for encouraging active mixed-mode travel, hope it works out for the employees
Atkinson’s mention of future openings suggests that many of the feared wave of closures when Mike Ashley’s Sport’s Direct Group bought Evans out of administration in October 2018 will not happen.
How do you work that one out? As long as the business is reasonable healthy it makes sense to open new stores where they think they can make money AND still close stores where they can't.
Besides - this wouldnt be the first time a company blythely continued with opening plans whilst staring bankruptcy in the face....