ACT encourages cycling industry to vote on date for this year’s Local Bike Shop Day

Local Bike Shop Day organiser The Association of Cycle Traders (ACT) is calling on IBDs, brands and other cycling organisations from across the industry to help pick the date for this year’s initiative.

In 2022, over 500 bike shops took part in the campaign, with organisations like the Department for Transport, Bike is Best, Cycling UK and British Cycling also putting their weight behind the day. This year, the ACT is encouraging the industry to take part in a vote to establish the date they feel the campaign should take place.

The key objective of Local Bike Shop Day is to raise awareness of Britain’s independent bike shops and drive footfall to stores on the day itself.

Jonathan Harrison from the ACT said: “2022 was an incredible year for Local Bike Shop Day, with more shops than ever taking part in the campaign. In its essence, Local Bike Shop Day is geared towards raising awareness of the incredible specialist knowledge and level of customer service that indie bike shops offer, while driving shoppers to stores. Because of this, we want the industry to play a role in picking a date for the initiative in spring, that ultimately, works for them.

“We have launched a survey which our colleagues across the industry can use to select the date they feel the date should fall on and the day with the most votes, becomes the date for this year’s Local Bike Shop Day.”

The dates that industry professionals will be able to vote on are:

⁃ Saturday 29th April
⁃ Sunday 30th April
⁃ Monday 1st May (Bank Holiday)
⁃ Saturday 6th May
⁃ Sunday 7th May

To get involved in the day, retailers will be able to access promotional materials to assist in the promotion of the event to customers. Retailers can find ideas on how to take part, such as guided bike rides for customers or offering a small number of free services on the day, on the Local Bike Shop Day website.

The cycling community will be invited to use #SupportYourLocalBikeShop on social media to raise awareness of the campaign.

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Speaking about the 2022 Local Bike Shop Day campaign, Joanne Mahon CEO of Get Cycling in York, said: “The day itself was a huge success, we decorated the shop with flags and set up a marquee in the yard where the free bike checks took place.

“In addition to our loyal customers we had people who were just passing by but came to join in with the celebrations and have a chat with the mechanics, many of them hadn’t even known we were there previously. We were definitely busier than the average Saturday, which was reflected in our sales, so it’s great to know that all of our hard work promoting the day paid off!”

Vote on when Local Bike Shop Day should take part at https://localbikeshopday.co.uk/get-involved/bike-shops/vote-on-2023-date/. You don’t have to be a member of the ACT to get involved, but you can sign up for free at https://www.cycleassociation.uk/join-the-act.