No bikes built for over a year at my store.

[spikegrouchy]

You know, I only post once a year to announce my annual anniversary at Spot. As I posted in December, I just passed my 23rd year. But I need to get this off my chest...

We have not sold a bike at my store for over a year. Our bike wall has been empty, gathering dust, trash and debris over that year.

I asked the team member who assembles our bikes why she hasn't been building them. She told me that they don't give her hours to do it. All they have her doing is pushing toys.

Our receiver told me that we have a full storage container behind the store with pallets of un-built bikes stored in it, probably all rusted and no good.

I can't believe that this is happening without repercussions. No one seems to care, though. Our DTL visits regularly and says nothing. What is going on?

The bike wall is in disrepair and disgusting. Here's a couple of pictures I took from last August (and it's gotten worse.)

My niece lives in New Jersey and she said that her Target store doesn't have bikes either on the floor. What gives?

 

[Powerwalker]

We haven't had a single bike built at my store in over six months. The only two priorities at my store is fulfillment and pushing the truck. Everything else comes a distant 3rd and lower. You'd think price change would be important, but we are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of price changes behind.

 

[MrT]

We haven't been selling much of any bikes so we haven't built much over the past 6 months. We have a full bike wall though. We are also in the same boat with a trailer full of bikes.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

My store does bike once every 2 weeks.

 

[smarthuddle]

My store only builds bikes when someone orders one for pickup

 

[FlowTeamChick]

The TM who builds the bikes at my store was doing a lot of them during 4th quarter. It's slowed down a lot since then, but we still have a decently full bike wall.
It's unlikely the bikes will be rusting away while in storage. Things like tires and inner tubes will deteriorate, but even they can take a lot of sitting and still be okay. (Says the person whose bike sat in the garage for years and years. When I finally got it out and took it to the shop for any tune-up needed, all they had to do was pump up the tires and clean and lube the chain. I pedaled lots of miles until I got a reliable car again.)

 

[Ringwraith917]

Wow this is crazy to hear. I build bikes at my store and can say that sales have been way down since prices have gone way up. But we keep bike hours available and sell 1-2 per week. A good chunk of what's unbuilt inventory will be missed salvage soon, since the yearly POG update is about to drop.

 

[idkwhattodo]

We only build bikes when a guest complains. Our fulfillment team picks unbuilt bikes and we’re told to deliver them to the guest like that. If they complain, we cancel or refund the order. Only guests that heavily complain finally get their bikes built. Our longtime bike builder gets no hours and when he is here, they don’t let him do bikes anymore. It’s rare. I remember we had a bike sale last summer that we had him build bikes for, but other than that nothing.

 

[TargetMcFly]

I feel like bikes are stolen more than they are bought.

 

[spikegrouchy]

These comments are so sad to read. The bike issue is a microcosm of everything else wrong in the stores. I can't believe how bad this once proud company has gone downhill over the past few years. You can't just blame it on covid, either.

I'm sure there are good stores out there, but they seem to be few and far between. My sister won't shop at Spot anymore because of the pricing issues. She said she can spend her money elsewhere, rather than going into a store that has one price on the shelf and when she gets up to the registers, she's charged higher than the shelf price. Happens all the time, she says.

My store's sales have been down all year from a year ago and I don't see that changing. Long lines at the checklanes, over-worked and miserable employees (me, included), numerous stocking and pricing issues, to say nothing about the messy and hazardous backroom. It's disheartening.

I'm ready to retire, but still can't take the plunge. But I might dive in soon. We'll see.

 

[Dead and Khaki]

We haven't had a single bike built at my store in over six months. The only two priorities at my store is fulfillment and pushing the truck. Everything else comes a distant 3rd and lower. You'd think price change would be important, but we are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of price changes behind.

Same here, friend. Same here.

 

[can't touch this]

if you thought the haunting desolation of the bike wall with its tumbleweeds and eerie dust-laden winds that whisper with the ghostly voices of long forgotten PMTs is bad, you should see the schedule

 

[redeye58]

Our bike wall is mostly empty & our builder's hours have him working in GM.
Pretty sad for a town that prides itself on promoting pedestrian & bike traffic.

 

[SigningLady]

Our bike wall is full and when we've sold a few, our bike builder builds them after truck unload since he's also inbound. 🤷🏻‍♀️

 

[spikegrouchy]

Our bike wall is full and when we've sold a few, our bike builder builds them after truck unload since he's also inbound. 🤷🏻‍♀️

You must work at a great store, SigningLady. Congrats.

 

[PackAndCry]

I really wish we would just stop selling built bikes and use the bike wall for merchandise that is more profitable.

 

[SigningLady]

I really wish we would just stop selling built bikes and use the bike wall for merchandise that is more profitable.

ASANTS. We make more money selling built bikes than we do with any other items in Sporting Goods; it's the only one that comps green! MN is really big on bike paths and trails so that probably helps.

 

[TurgetCirkl]

I really wish we would just stop selling built bikes and use the bike wall for merchandise that is more profitable.

I want to agree with this but I usually see different bikes at my store so I think we sell them. I never pay attention to it lmao.

 

[redeye58]

MN is really big on bike paths and trails so that probably helps.

See, this confuses me.
My city (in central TX) has been increasing bike lanes & paths for YEARS.
You'd think we couldn't build bikes fast enough.

 

[animalcrossing]

The fact that my store doesn't even have a fixture to sell bikes is very telling

 

[Not My Name]

Target is in the process of going out of business. They've been in the process of going out of business for about 15 years. It is a slow process. I've posted about it on here numerous times. This shit often takes decades. Look at K-Mart... they still have like 1 or 2 stores left and they've been gone for a long ass time. Target might still be around for another 15 years or whatever other random amount of time, but they absolutely will not have a meaningful footprint in like 30 years or less. It'll probably be a lot sooner than that.

Publicly traded companies often follow these trends. Psychopathic leeches take over when the founder or person who made it successful dies or retires, and the company just goes further and further down the tubes as time goes on. Steinhaffel offered this company nothing except budget cuts. Cornell offers the company nothing but budget cuts.

Psychopathic CEOs and psychopathic shareholders. Short term profit over all.

Bye-bye, Target.

 

[Times Up]

Target is in the process of going out of business. They've been in the process of going out of business for about 15 years. It is a slow process. I've posted about it on here numerous times. This shit often takes decades. Look at K-Mart... they still have like 1 or 2 stores left and they've been gone for a long ass time. Target might still be around for another 15 years or whatever other random amount of time, but they absolutely will not have a meaningful footprint in like 30 years or less. It'll probably be a lot sooner than that.

Publicly traded companies often follow these trends. Psychopathic leeches take over when the founder or person who made it successful dies or retires, and the company just goes further and further down the tubes as time goes on. Steinhaffel offered this company nothing except budget cuts. Cornell offers the company nothing but budget cuts.

Psychopathic CEOs and psychopathic shareholders. Short term profit over all.

Bye-bye, Target.

Hardly

 

[Not My Name]

Hardly

Good point. I take back my previous post. You're right. My bad.

 

[happygoth]

Target is in the process of going out of business. They've been in the process of going out of business for about 15 years. It is a slow process. I've posted about it on here numerous times. This shit often takes decades. Look at K-Mart... they still have like 1 or 2 stores left and they've been gone for a long ass time. Target might still be around for another 15 years or whatever other random amount of time, but they absolutely will not have a meaningful footprint in like 30 years or less. It'll probably be a lot sooner than that.

Publicly traded companies often follow these trends. Psychopathic leeches take over when the founder or person who made it successful dies or retires, and the company just goes further and further down the tubes as time goes on. Steinhaffel offered this company nothing except budget cuts. Cornell offers the company nothing but budget cuts.

Psychopathic CEOs and psychopathic shareholders. Short term profit over all.

Bye-bye, Target.

Target is fine. I worked for Sears for over 30 years and had a front row seat for their demise. Target is nowhere near going out of business.

 

[flow4areasonuno]

Target is fine. I worked for Sears for over 30 years and had a front row seat for their demise. Target is nowhere near going out of business.

What would you say would be warning signs to look out for, though?