SEEMINGLY AS soon as the sun’s out, footfall in any High Street bike shop rises and Evans was no exception. While waiting to be seen I observed a staff member successfully tie a customer to a Cannondale with some good spiel about how the manufacturer does its own thing with R&D. Met by another staffer, the assistant gave me a well thought out pitch for a 20-inch wheeled Tern, asking about my transport links, budget and if I’d ridden much before. Touting the online store, I got the impression that I
could get a better deal online, which almost took the focus of the bike I’d registered an interest in within the store. The assistant, however, was a quick worker, double-checking details he was unsure of on a nearby computer, which is much preferred to guesswork. Though he didn’t try to upsell me on the bike, the helper used my quoted budget well, asking about my need for accessories.
Switchback Cycles
ONCE MORE folding bikes were not in stock in this particular branch, however Switchback had a few tricks up its sleeve. Using a Giant brochure to give me some sense of scale and idea what the bike would look like was barely needed. The assistant detailed well parts of the spec that were not obvious from the visuals, such as the one- side fork and chainstay designs, which ultimately mean a rider of this bike needn’t remove the wheels to replace a tube – a great selling point and one I'm glad wasn't missed. It was the closure of the sale that pleased Mystery Shopper the most though, with the suggestion first of a deposit on an order and secondly to pop over to the neighbouring sister branch in Guildford, which he phoned to check stock levels with. With no answer on the phones, he gave me the postcode on a business card and advised that if I were not to use Switchback it'd be wise to shop with the Giant specialists. Other perks included the mention of a six-week service and friendly chat on mountain biking.
UNFORTUNATELY DOWN to a few closed stores we were unable to round up five branches this month. This was far from one of the most productive visits on our travels, but there were some highlights. Switchback’s strong attempts to secure my sale without appearing too pushy sees them take the Star Store gong. Elsewhere, it was difficult to fully review Wellington Trek, other than to observe the prior customer’s experience. The assistant deserves a medal for the patient way in which he handled that one. I’m disappointed to see no further progress from
Halfords to upgrade its image, as seen in Cheltenham where it scored star store back in the July issue.