CycleGadgets.com, the premiere motorcycle accessory store, is no more.
BMW riding friends Sean and Laurene Franklin went out of business in mid-January, shutting down their online store and their physical store in Eureka Springs, Ark.
Here’s Sean’s explanation:
It's certainly no secret that the economy has limited a lot of people's discretionary spending, and motorcycle accessories in general have taken a pretty good hit. From 2000-2006 we saw year after year of steady business growth and profit, and when we made the decision to move to Eureka Springs, Arkansas we made aggressive plans with a large building and big investments in equipment and software to allow us to continue to grow. Unfortunately that saddled us with a lot of debt and ongoing fixed expenses. When business failed to continue growing, and in fact shrunk considerably (down now nearly 70% from 2006), we fell further and further behind in keeping up with those debts. We have attempted to find investors and even listed the business for sale, but have not been able to work out an arrangement that would allow us to avoid bankruptcy and to continue operating.
At this point I can't say whether CycleGadgets.com will return in some form with Laurene or me as a part of it. I hope that it can. In the meantime, we are job hunting. I (Sean) may be doing some motorcycle consulting on the side, check back here for information on that later. We hope to remain in the Eureka Springs area but as of right now we can't say whether that will happen or not.
Sean and Laurene have been good, solid citizens in the motorcycle community. Their absence from the BMW MOA rally last year in Redmond, Ore., left a big hole in the vendor lineup.
I’m kicking myself for never making the ride over to see them at Eureka Springs after we moved to Arkansas in 2007.
Good luck, Sean and Laurene. I hope we get another chance to buy stuff from you.
4 comments:
You will be missed by many,enjoyed riding to vist each year,during the Branson Blitz.Best wishes for coming up with something interesting to do,to stay afloat....Nose
We will miss you,the shop and the pets. We wish you the best. You were an inspiration to me to put different items on my bikes.
God Bless. Boots/Oklahoma
What lousy news. My links to your website kept bringing up the wrong businesses. Then I stumbled on this very sad news. I've been a long-time customer and will miss you at the BMW rallies. You are great people. I'll be a customer again if you return to business. I wish you the best.
What lousy news. My links to your website kept bringing up the wrong businesses. Then I stumbled on this very sad news. I've been a long-time customer and will miss you at the BMW rallies. You are great people. I'll be a customer again if you return to business. I wish you the best.
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