LONGMONT, Colo. (BRAIN) — The planning phase of Bicycle Retailer's second Retail Remodel Project is well underway at Bike-n-Hike in Longmont. Retail design firm 3 Dots Design is working with owners Rick and Jill Emerson to come up with a plan that will address challenges in the store and improve the retail environment.
The 2,500-square-foot store, which opened in 1973, will receive a facelift that will include updated paint, finishes and fixtures —updating much of which has the same look and feel of the 1970s. The team, with the help of a general contractor, will also break up the large cluster of bikes on the sales floor by segment to make it more shoppable.
By highlighting the shop's wide range of product — from kids' and commuter to high-end road and mountain — the 3 Dots Team and the Emersons hope to appeal to local cyclists of all levels, and keep them shopping in Longmont, located about 40 miles north of Denver and 15 miles northeast of Boulder.
"Generally speaking, Longmont is going through a Main Street revitalization and Bike-n-Hike is right in the middle, either rolling with those updates or falling even further behind the times," said Andy Davis of 3 Dots Design. "We'll be making strategic focal points throughout, better segmentation of bike styles and clearly defining product categories."
A women's-specific shopping area will also be added to the store layout.
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"For years, the female customers at Bike-n-Hike have always just dug around the sea of bikes or driven 30 minutes to shop in Boulder," said Holly Weise, co-owner of 3 Dots Design. "There's no reason that Longmont women can't have a rewarding shopping experience in their own backyard.
"By segmenting the store, they'll have all of the women's products merchandised together in one place, making shopping much easier and more fun."
Mercedes Ross of Merchandising Werx will work with Bike-n-Hike to improve store merchandising and product placement, and Gregg Frederick of G3 Development Group will help Bike-n-Hike set sales goals and provide financial benchmarking. Construction and design implementation should be completed by the end of February.
Bicycle Retailer will cover the project via social media, the Web and a print feature in the April 1 issue of the magazine.
The Retail Remodel Project is presented by Giro. Other vendor sponsorships are still available.
