No more George White?

Same thing happend to Stratstone Clay Cross. One week I took my bike in for a service, everything seemed fine. Week later, closed :(

CMC bought the building though and have actually managed to pack more bikes in :eek:
 
Oh wow. I'm from Swindon and a woman I used to work with was close friends with the owner. I go past the Swindon shop every day as well.
 
Semple said:
Oh wow. I'm from Swindon and a woman I used to work with was close friends with the owner. I go past the Swindon shop every day as well.
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Same here, I pass it every day on the way into the Techno trading estate, and it used to be my local haunt when I lived in Swindon - bought all my bikes and kit from them, with the exception of the Daytona and my XR1100 lid.

Really nice staff, not overly helpful - usually as you had to track them down mostly, lovely store though, modern, fresh, massive, and a real hub for bikers from all over the place.

It'll be a real sad loss if the empire is allowed to fold, I hope there's someone out there who buys into the brand and keeps it going; maybe sells off some of the stores to keep things rolling on...

Now who have we got in Swindon... Art Deans, and Triumph.... think that's it really, and Dean's seem to cater for new riders on 50s and 125s from experience. And Fowlers in Bristol - nice as it is, it just never seemed as welcoming as GWs in Swindon; though the sales staff in Fowlers are great.
 
I'm not surprised really, they sold stuff for silly prices that were not viable for keeping them (or any other business) open long term & in doing so forced a lot of the smaller shops out of business.
It seems all right in the short term for the consumer, nice cheap bits/leathers/bikes etc, but it's another big company paying staff **** wages & a few at the top creaming it off.

There's too many places like this, the whole bloody country is becoming Tesco-fied and rather than being better off, we're getting poorer overall. Pretty much everyone not in public service will end up on minimum wage,
working their bums off for a few at the top in massive companies. Notice how a lot of current business failures have the words "private equity" in the news articles?.

It's all a big scam, buy a business with borrowed money, asset strip it & then cream the money off into an offshore account. Who cares if it makes a profit, it doesn't need to.
The directors will walk off with money & leave a burnt out shell of a business.
 
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Damn, Really wanted to get myself another helmet cheap as I just came off =/
Anyone know if they are auctioning off gear? or when they are gonna open up shop again? I live closest to the Swindon building
 
Anyone know how this works? Do they have an on site sale, is the gear taken and auctioned online? How do you find out about it?
 
MatteH Oxford said:
I'm not surprised really, they sold stuff for silly prices that were not viable for keeping them (or any other business) open long term & in doing so forced a lot of the smaller shops out of business.
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This. A dealer up here I was talking to had to give up his franchise as the likes of George White were selling bikes at a loss, or at least no profit, to then get the volume sales which gave them the bigger manufacturer discounts on the bikes they sell past the target cut off. The small dealers cant risk matching that high risk strategy and lose a lot of sales.
 
I'm guessing they either need a new buyer, or got into liquidation and sell off all their assets, meaning tonnes of gear/bikes to be sold off, dunno how that would work, but I am desperate for a cheap Marushin 999NX/RS right now =P
 
The store(s) here in Swindon are being gutted as I type :( Lorries have been coming and going all morning loaded with bikes and fixtures.

Such a shame to lose GW, but more of a shame that so many people have lost their jobs.
 
Heard that the main store is being re-opened, but only selling clothes and lids, no bikes... at least, that's the story so far.

Drove past this morning and though something was going on as the main store is full of kit and all laid out.

A little bit of good news, but it's still not sounding good for the ex employees :(
 
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