Local Bike Shop Day: How was it for you?

The inaugural Local Bike Shop Day took place last Saturday (6 October), following in the footsteps of ‘Shop Independent Week’, ‘Small Business Saturday’, ‘Record Store Day’ and other independent retailer-backing initiatives.

East Lothian’s Belhaven Bikes bought into the concept and – through social media, its website and its own community customer email newsletter – publicised the day. With listings in the shop’s local paper, some new customers came through the door too, the shop told CI.N.

For Local Bike Shop Day, Belhaven offered coffee and cake, an opportunity to win a bike service, e-bike test rides and film showings of a new family-friendly bikepacking route launched in the county (and this one featuring the retailer).

Co-owner Mandy Cairnsford said: “We thought [the day] was successful as it gives an opportunity to raise awareness and keep momentum on being kept ‘front of mind’, which is good for us and the other independent bike shops around the UK.”

The morning also saw Markus Stitz, producer of the above films, put together a promo video for Local Bike Shop Day.

Cairnsford added: “We’ll happily be involved in the day next year and hopefully this year provides a base to build on, like Record Store Day has. The opportunity is there for more shops, IBD-focused manufacturers, distributors, organisations and customers to get involved.”

Belhaven Bikes was selected to be one of the SmallBiz100 as part of Small Business Saturday last year.