BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Edinburgh Bicycle has stores in Aberdeen, Newcastle, Leeds and, of course, its home-town. It also has an expansive online presence.
Kate Webster said:
"As [Manchester is such] a huge and fast growing city, Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative is excited at the opportunity to increase the awareness of and participation in cycling as both a means of efficient transport and an enjoyable leisure activity in Manchester and the North West."
Evans Cycles opened a store in Deansgate, central Manchster, last year but Edinburgh Bicycle’s store is to be further out into the suburbs. The cooperative has chosen an 8,500sq ft unit in the Opal Development on Wilmslow Road, Chorlton-on-Medlock. The Opal Group is an "ethical" property developer, specialising in upscale student accomodation.
The new Edinburgh Bicycle store will be open by March and isn’t a million miles away from Bicycle Doctor of Rusholme, another cooperatively run bike shop.
Fifteen new jobs are being created in the opening of the new store.
Edinburgh Bicycle has an annual turnover of £10m and is almost unique among cooperatives in that it has an expansion strategy. Sixty of the 130 workers at Edinburgh Bicycle are cooperative members, an entitlement offered after a year working for the business.
