RETAILERS
TRADITIONAL CYCLE SHOP F
Gainsborough Cycles has been a stalwart in its community for more than two decades. Rebecca Bland speaks to the shop’s owner Trevor Halstead
or 25 years, Trevor Halstead has been at the helm of Gainsborough Cycles, a friendly shop in Lincolnshire that’s hard to miss. With bright yellow and blue walls, and plenty of character, the shop, and Halstead, have become part of the local community. But stories of longevity, particularly where the shop has had the same owner over two and a half decades, are unfortunately not necessarily the norm any more. The cycling industry is volatile and unpredictable, with some shops even pivoting to more workshop focussed activities in an effort to adapt to online bike giants and discount prices that they cannot match.
So what’s different about Gainsborough Cycles? Halstead and his shop assistant, Dan Nicholson think that it’s because they try to do things differently to everyone else, starting with simple things like the overall design of the shop. “I like to be unique, I like to be different,” added Halstead. “I’ve got antique old bike shop signs outside. I like to try and make myself different. When I moved here I had a few people flabbergasted because I painted the shop yellow, as yellow and blue are my trading colours. “I wanted the shop to stand out. So people now know
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the yellow and blue shop on Ropery Road is Gainsborough Cycles. I also believe in merchandising and having a very presentable shop when people look through the window or walk through the door.”
Investing wisely Like most cycle shops, Gainsborough Cycles saw a boost during Covid, which they used to make improvements to the business rather than buy in a lot more stock. “We used that year to make a lot of improvements to the business and keep ourselves in good stead. I’ve now got
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