Fixiiies- A Business Proposal: by Stéphanie Marin

For the past few years, we’ve seen a thriving number of bicyclists. The price of the gas hasn't been higher. People are more concerned about the environment as well as their health. Those reasons make riding a bike seems to be a good idea. Therefore, I decided to start a bike shop, specializing ed in fixed-gear bikes. I called it: Fixiiies.

In our bike shop, we are going to build fixed-gear bikes by reusing old frames from bicycles that people aren't using anymore. We’ll find them at flea markets, ads on Craiglist, gifts from customers, abandoned bikes and so on. It’s a good idea because it’s quite cheap to produce. With a fixie, you don’t need a lot of pieces. Furthermore, you can sell it for a good price because of supply and ing demand. Everybody wants a fixie. It’s trendy, it’s environmentally harmless oriented and, for many, it's a fashion accessory object. The main goal of our company is , of course, to make money. It’s a business after all ! But why not create a business that can help a little towards the conservation of our natural resources. Those bikes were going to be trash anyway. We reuse them and then sell them to people that won’t use their car. It’s wonderful !

We have to consider that there are plenty of bike shops here. We must have competitive prices. Also, we are going to use social networks to make our shop trendy, . Perharps by having some contests, promotions, free events etc.

Our shop is geared toward a young market. People in their twenties or thirties and students will be our main customers, but and anyone who wants a fixed-gear bike is welcome! We’ll be located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn because it’s cheaper than in Williamsburg. The best spot would be close to a bike lane. Besides, since we should be near a lot of bikers, there will be a coffee shop and a bar in the front of our shop and a terrace as well! Then people will stop by to have a drink, take a look at our amazing bikes, tell a friend, post a picture on Twitter … This place is also a good way to reuse the other pieces of old bikes such as turn a wheel into a table, gears and chains as decoration and so on. Finally, I think that starting a bike shop is a good idea but I know that we’ll have to be smart if we want to avoid a deficit or even worse, bankruptcy. However, I anticipate a good response from the customers.