Romford Cyclelife Successful Franchises

CYCLELIFE ROMFORD, COLLIER ROW

Cliff Boness, the owner of Cyclelife Romford, Collier Row was running a van department for a North London based courier company and was at the same time working himself into a miserable and depressing early grave with no way out.  Having made the decision that he needed a new challenge in his life he considered opening a retail shop in the area he lived.

He looked into what kind of services the area was lacking and what may be a viable business opportunity. Cliff decided a bike shop would fit all the criteria particularly with plenty of opportunities in the area for cycling. After speaking with his local small business advisor at his bank, he started looking at franchising where he came upon Cyclelife.

He contacted Pam Simmons in Cyclelife Marketing who invited both himself and his partner Diane to Nottingham for a presentation and a free lunch, who could refuse that kind of offer.  At the presentation they were introduced to the Managing Director, Mark Gouldthorp, Sales Director Phil Rickaby and the Retail Development Manager Paul Wignall who impressed Cliff and Diane with their honesty, no hard sell and commitment to the product.  They were given a tour of the factory being shown the latest product and then given time to consider their next step.  This impressed them a lot and led to the decision to go Cyclelife. They chose Raleigh as having the support and back up of major brand name plus having that brand name associated with their shop was a “no brainer”.

Cliff and Diane found an 800 sq ft store with a 90 sq ft workshop and storage space in Collier Row Road and opened their Cyclelife store on 23rd June 2008. They received assistance with organising the lease to setting up the shop plus help with training such as merchandising and sales training courses. The whole process of opening the store was done in stages in conjunction with the progress in organising the lease.  As soon as the lease was signed things moved quickly.

Before Cliff and Diane took over the shop it had stood empty for a year so any development of the property would have been better than it was but the layout and décor have definitely helped with building up a customer base and all the feedback has been positive from everyone who has been in the shop.  The launch was successful thanks in main to the efforts made by Cliff and Diane and Raleigh preparing the shop to a standard acceptable to the customers.

Cliff would give the following advice to prospective franchisees “ Make sure you understand the financial implications of what you are considering, such as can you make all your current outgoings on a projected income for the first 12 months.  Try to have a financial safety net equal to at least 6 months mortgage payments plus on top of any other finances you will need to start up.  Make sure your partner/wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend is on board with your plans, believe me this will make life a lot easier during the first year.  Take a copy of the contract to a solicitor, most will tell you this is an ideal type of franchise to go into and will give you confidence in the product”.

Finally, when asked if he could go back, would he still become a Cyclelife Partner, Cliff replied “Yes, but I would have done it sooner in life”