Follow-up to Cycling Industry Pt. 2...

I wanted to follow-up my previous post with a couple direct quotes from both John Burke, President of Trek, and Roger Bird, Director of Retail developement. Here goes....

At the most recent Dealer Meeting which was held in Madison, WI this past fall, John Burke made Trek's plan very clear: "We will be opening Concept Stores in your area if we feel Trek is not well-represented."

In a recent article in an industry publication, Roger Bird made the following statements:
"Our focusis world-class retail" Bird said, "Go to the Apple Computer Store, or the Disney Store, or The Gap on 5th Avenue, or to Times Square in New York and look at any of those stores- that's world-class retail, that's our benchmark."

Bird emphasized that Trek is not looking to own concept stores, but rather to build them in strategic markets rither with a dealer, or independently, and then hand the operation over to a competent and commited retailer.

These are direct quotes folks. I'm not making this stuff up. Trek is obviously positioning themselves for growth and survival in todays ever-changing retail environment. It seems apparent that that direction does not include the "traditional" bike shop. Thanks for reading.
-John