will soon be the River City Bicycles Outlet store.
River City Bicycles has purchased a new, 5,000 square foot building that will soon become a new outlet store selling discounted bikes and clothing just a few blocks from their existing location. The River City Bicycles Outlet is set to open for business in the next few weeks at 534 SE Belmont (the southwest corner of 6th and Belmont).
According to River City Bicycles owner David Guettler, the new store will carry closeouts from a variety of brands. The bulk of the offerings will be new bikes and clothing, but he says he’ll also offer high-quality road bike rentals as well as used bikes that have come in as trade-ins from purchases made at their flagship store on SE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
“People are looking for a deal… They don’t care if it’s last year’s bike, if they can get a brand new bike at a used price, obviously in a win-win for everyone.”
Guettler has owned River City for 15 years and is coming of a national “Retailer of the Year” honor he earned in 2010. He says the new outlet store is a response to what people have been asking for: “All this came from customers telling us what they want. People are looking for a deal… They don’t care if it’s last year’s bike, if they can get a brand new bike at a used price, obviously in a win-win for everyone.”
Guettler sees the new store not as a second location, but as a complement to his existing operations. “We’re just trying to come up with a way to enhance what we already do.”
The River City Bicycles Outlet will be a supplier-independent store — meaning Guettler will sell a wide variety of brands, not just the brands he represents at his existing store. He mentioned GT, Scott, Raleigh, and others. The bulk of the bikes sold at the outlet will come directly from suppliers, who are looking to get rid of old stock, closeouts, odd sizes, and other bikes sitting in their warehouses.
The new store will also have a different showroom than you’re used to. It will be sectioned off into sizes. “We’ll have different color tags and every color is going to be for a different size… So, if you’re between 5′ and 5′ 4″, everything with a red tag will fit you.”
Sounds interesting. Can’t wait to see how it turns out. Stay tuned for photos and a report once the new store opens its doors to the public. Good luck Dave and the entire River City Bicycles crew!