DANA POINT, CA (BRAIN) Feb 2, 16:40 MT —In preparation for a potential relocation, Revo Cycles has begun liquidating its 2010 and 2011 inventory and consolidating 2012 product into its newer and larger store in Lake Forest.
Owner Darrin Duhamel has done business in this coastal Orange County town since early 2002, when he took over existing shop Bike Tech on a one-way stretch of Pacific Coast Highway and renamed it Revo Cycles. When the city approved a redevelopment project in 2007 that would convert the area to two-way motor traffic and bring more shoppers into the area, he moved to a larger space across PCH with 4,700 square feet of retail space.
“The one reason I took over that building was the Town Center redevelopment project that was supposed to take place a few years back. It never did, so the foot traffic in Dana Point never developed. It’s reached a point where it doesn’t make sense to keep that store open and pay that rent when I can go further inland and get a larger space with better demographics,” said Duhamel.
Local economic factors have also figured into his decision-making. “The Dana Point economy was struck harder than the average beach community because being where it is geographically, you don’t drive through Dana Point unless you’re going to Dana Point. Store for store, restaurant for restaurant, they’re closing their doors. It’s just been a really tough place,” he said.
Duhamel said his Dana Point lease recently expired and that he and the landlord are at an impasse in renegotiations. Though he said staying in Dana Point remains a 50/50 prospect, he has entered into negotiations on two other properties in Orange County. He expects to make a decision in the next month and a half.
In the meantime, Duhamel noted that business remains brisk at his Lake Forest store, which opened next to Interstate 5 in October 2010. The 11,000-square-foot shop is split into miniature concept stores for its primary bike brands, each of which has its own four-walled suite in the store. If he moves the Dana Point store, Duhamel plans to adopt the same model in the new location.
The mini-concept design was never tried in Dana Point because of the shop’s layout and size. “We would have had to completely gut the store, and we didn’t want to do that,” said Duhamel, adding that he needs at least 7,000 square feet to make the model work.
