A quick rant about Evans

[Jon H]

Needed some new Look Keo cleats, and a SRAM Powerlock chain link, so popped into the branch of Evans near my office.

Found the cleats and took them to the counter.
Me: "Do you have cleat covers for these? I couldn't see them on display"
Evans numpty: "I'll check" wanders over to shelf display where I've just been and picks up Time cleat covers and Speedplay cleat covers "Err, no, but I can order them online for you"
Me: "I'll do that later" (Didn't say it would be from Wiggle or Chain Reaction)
Me: "I also need a SRAM Powerlock link for a 10 speed chain"
Numpty goes downstairs and surprisingly comes back with the right item. Does the till thing..."Thats £33.98 please"
Me (Knowing the cleats are £17.99): "How much?"
Numpty: "£33.98"
Me: "So how much is the chain link?"
Numpty: "£15.99"
Me: "I could buy a whole new chain for that!"
Numpty: "So do you want a new chain?"
Me: "No thanks"

Don't think I'll bother going there again!

[Phil H]

I only use them for outsize women's clothing now.

[Andrew G]

Sounds like a good one Jon, the one near my office wouldn't have known what a cleat was.

[Dombo]

Just bought some Look Keo cleats from my local branch.
"17.99 mate"
"Do you pricematch?" says I. (New verb there I think; like hoover, whatever that means).
"Yes".
"Wiggle?" says I.
"Er, yeah, s'pose".
Me, beamingly, "So I guess that's 12.55 then. Mate"

[skippy]

That's a shame when these things happen. I worked for Evans in the mid 70s. The name was owned by Gary Smith then, he had 3 shops I think.
The big one in the cut at Waterloo was a bit of a "flagship",had a frame builder on site for the custom made frames. Harry Healey, worked for Condor in the past. We kept him in the basement!! One of the old school craftsmen frame builders, great with steel, not so good with people! I have a wonderful story that I can't put here about his response when someone asked him to build a Trike frame.
We had lots of overseas customers who bought bikes to tour around the UK then often sold them back to the shop.
Harry built me a wonderful track frame, he was very much the engineer and refused to build the trendy(at that time) ultra short wheel base jobs. We took it down to calshot one rainy Sunday with the club and I remember PVT having a lend of it and loving the way it rode.
I guess these businesses just get to big and it is just about the money in the end.
Just some thoughts and a bit of a story.
Gary