Comment by sevensor

I live in a college town with several bike shops, all of them still tied to the traditional retail model. The one I suspect has the worst prospects is the most upscale one. They have a big clean showroom full of expensive sporty bikes, but their mechanics are second-rate. You can tell because their shop is in the basement and you're not allowed to come down and watch them work on your bike. And the one time I made the mistake of going there for service they sniffed at my decent, well maintained commuting bike because the paint was dinged up and it was covered with road dust, charged me twice what the repair was worth, and didn't fix the problem. The shop I'm rooting for has a tiny showroom and a big repair shop right behind the counter. There's grease on everything, and I'm pretty sure they've been under-charging me for labor because they know I commute by bike. They already order and assemble bikes for people, and they also rent by the day. They, I suspect, will be just fine.