BIG INTERVIEW
anniversary on 1st February. “When we bought the business in 2000, I still had a full time job. I had a career in local government, so I was working but on Saturdays I was in the shop. “Through that time I was learning about all the chainsets, I did a mechanic course, and I started networking, and got involved in this group called Forward Ladies, which was for women that were starting a business. That got me linked up with UK Trade and Investment [now the Government’s Department for International Trade]. We were working together me and Paul with our strengths, making a team.”
Women in the bike trade Sandra’s experience of the cycling business world dates back more than 20 years, but her experiences in cycling date back even further, as she was a regular attendee at races in a supporting role.
But as a woman in a male-dominated industry, has she
seen an improvement in attitudes towards women in the cycling world? “It still is a male-dominated industry,” said Sandra. “I used to go to bike shows in the UK and they used to
ignore me. They didn’t realise I did have a say in where we spent our money. So if I wasn’t happy we didn’t support that business. “Over time I’ve had to prove my time in the trade and
gain credibility. We went to a show before Covid and it was feeling like that again. Maybe new people who had started with the company, or who were normally sat in the office who had been brought out for an exhibition and it felt like they were thinking ‘what does this woman know about cycling?’ which I was quite saddened by really, because you’d think young men are a bit more educated
about these things and realise that women do have a place in the world.”
So what can be done in the bike trade to help
encourage more women to get into the industry? “There is a smattering of women,” added Sandra. “I suppose it’s having an interest in cycling. You’ve
got to be passionate starting out in business, whatever business you do. If you find a good mentor when you’re starting off in business, that helps. And networking: the networking I did was with women only and I prefer women’s only networking. “I don’t think there’s as much opportunity for people at school to do work experience in a bike shop like there used to be. My daughter started working at Pennine when she was 14 and that’s how she got into it.”
Rep relations Alongside the progress (or lack of) in equality, Sandra has also seen how the relationship between suppliers and retailers has changed during her time working at Pennine. Many of these changes may have also been accelerated
by Covid, including how distributor reps interact with cycling businesses. “Covid probably didn’t help, but we hardly have any reps anymore because its all B2B [platforms]. We’re not really keen on B2B, because we want to speak to people. “As a business, we want to speak to our customers and we want to give good quality customer service, and I think we feel that we want that from our suppliers. “A lot of reps have come and gone so you’re always establishing yourself with new people, because we want the reps from the suppliers to understand what kind of bike shop we are, what our passion is.
www.bikebiz.com
February 2023 | 29
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