Cyclelife Stockton
Cyclelife Stockton Skinnergate Cycles (Stockton) Ltd., Brunswick Street, Stockton on Tees opened it's doors on 31st March 2008.
Grant Maciver the owner, began his career in the Cycle Retail Industry as a Saturday lad at Skinnergate Cycles in Bridge Road, Stockton. Grant worked there whilst at school and college for four years gaining expert tuition from the proprietor Tim Stephenson. After leaving college he spent the next few years out of the Cycle industry but always remained passionate about bikes. He and a group of friends were participating in the Coast to Coast charity bike ride and one of his responsibilities was to purchase kit for the ride. Where else would he go for the spares but to Skinnergate Cycles? By chance, Tim was in the shop and Grant learned that Tim was looking to retire and move abroad. This was the opportunity Grant had been looking for, he wanted independence and a business of his own he could build up. After numerous discussions, it was agreed on Tim's retirement Grant would open his store in Stockton and take on Skinnergate Cycles as part of his store name.
Keeping the Skinnergate name enabled Grant to have an existing customer base and like Tim before him wanted to be part of the Cyclelife network of independent bike dealers. Grant said "I chose Cyclelife as I had seen first hand how a Raleigh 5 star account had worked and the strength of back up received from Raleigh. It gave me reassurance that I could run my own shop.
The assistance I received with the financing of the stock together with the high level of support from Raleigh enabled me to overcome a big hurdle in owning my own business".
After nearly two years of trading the store now employs four full time and four part time staff. The shop has an excellent workshop which accounts for around 25% of the business and a retail sales area which allows the display of 170+ bikes covering most sectors of cycling.
When asked what his ambitions are for the store he re said "since taking over the business two years ago we have grown almost 60% which has created some growing pains, in the short term we need to finish off a few changes to the shop layout/presentation of stock and website and in the log term possibly looking at acquiring another business to build up".
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