Hey I even have the same first name as that dude. I’m backing down man. It’s cool.
When I was running a shop in Victoria in the mid-90s, I often thought about opening a shop in Vancouver (not comparing myself to TomD…but realized that Van seriously needs a competent shop). The very high cost of rent and the vast number of existing shops with product lines already sewn up would require a very large cushion of cash to get you through start-up. Instead I went back to biz school and my buddy went and opened a couple of successful bike shops in Edmonton…I still have moments where I really wished I’d partnered with him for those shops.
Shops in van are crap.