MENDHAM, NJ (BRAIN)—Van Dessel Sports has opened a storefront in its hometown to develop its brand and showcase the entire breadth of its line.
“We are creating a showroom environment to attract consumers, and—locally speaking—part of that is catering to the immediate cycling community by also opening a small Belgian-themed pro shop area,” said Edwin Bull, the Belgian founder and owner of Van Dessel.
Van Dessel moved in January from an industrial building into a location that offers office space, storage space, truck access and retail space. Consumers can now see the entire line, take a test ride and make a purchase at its new headquarters.
In addition to his own line of bikes, Van Dessel offers a handful of kids bikes from other manufacturers to cater to families. Van Dessel also is providing ride essentials and harder to find products such as Lazer helmets, Vermac clothing, Sock Guy socks, cyclocross products and warm-up creams.
While he now sells his bikes to anyone who walks in the door, Bull said his intent is to support and work with his dealers, not to compete with them. He said any one of its dealers, whether they are in the immediate area or across the country, who has a customer from their servicing area come in and buy a bike from his factory showroom still receives their margin.
“This change was made to address a lack of representation and sales in our own immediate area and it is in full support of and in cooperation from our dealers. We are not changing or abandoning our dedication and commitment to our dealers or dealer-based distribution model,” Bull said.
“We have always been and still are 100 percent focused on growing and supporting our dealer base,” he added.
—Megan Tompkins
Photo Credit: MacWright Studio
