SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (BRAIN)— As the CABDA Midwest trade show opened here Wednesday, BRAIN's intrepid reporter Ray Keener chatted up the attending retailers, asking about their hopes and fears for the 2019 season. And by the way, a reminder for our Sun Belt readers: the season has yet to start in CABDAland.
CABDA Midwest continues Thursday at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel in Schaumburg and Ray will be back at it, with a new question for attendees. Got some ideas about what he should ask? Chime in in the comments section below.
Scott Cowan
Century Cycles
Rocky River, Ohio
My hopes are that 2019 is a shining star relative to the last five years, especially 2018 which was a challenging year for many reasons. We'd like to see a lot more positive stories. My fear is that the federal government might continue to mess up my business by shutting down again and closing the Cuyahoga Valley National Towpath that we rely on for our livelihood.
Pamela and Joe Broadaway
Trailblazers Bike Barn
Hobart, Indiana
Our shop is so new, we just hope it continues the success we've had so far. We want to grow our business by introducing some new bike lines. Our fear is that we're so dependent on Fuji. They have such a wide variety, we're in a family-oriented area with some pros riding around, too. We dedicated our store to Fuji and our fear is that the season is closing in and we won't get the 2019 models.
Mike Grayum
West Chester Cyclery
West Chester, Ohio
Hopes, an early, warm, dry Spring. Business you lose in the Spring you never make up. Fears, a cold, wet, long winter. There's no question that weather drives the business in the Midwest.
Becca Bingham and Anna Greetis
Pedal & Spoke, Ltd.
North Aurora, Illinois
My biggest fear is that winter will never stop. We're generally excited to get back to the craziness of Summertime in the bike shop. We've really dived into the gravel side of things, we hope that continues to grow for us. Being out in the suburbs, we have a lot of nice gravel roads. We're also looking for more accessible kid bike price points, it's fun to see kids get super stoked on bikes.
Wayne Mikes
Mikes Bike Shop
Palatine, Illinois
My big fear is that inflation is going to kick in. My hope is that it's not that bad! My economic projections are that sales are going to be slow, the tariffs and price increases on all the other products are going to make consumers more resistant about spending money. I think that service will stay about the same as it has in the past, usually it goes up a bit when other sales go down.
Carolyn Weber
Coast In Bikes
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
We're in a huge transition right now. Based on some of the industry trends I'm seeing, I'm switching to a contractor-based model, it's going to be a service-only bike shop with a small amount of retail. Each mechanic is independent like a hair salon. We're either going to charge a percentage of sales or a monthly fee. We all vote and agree on service rates. As far as I know, we're the first ones to try this.
