Family-run bicycle shop Gooch’s closes its doors after nine decades

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This article was published 15/10/2016 (3305 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After 89 years in business, Gooch’s Bicycle & Hobby Shop has closed.

The Winnipeg retail institution formerly on Sherbrook Street had relocated to the south side of Portage Avenue in the West End in a space formerly occupied by a video store.

The bike shop had been operated by four generations of the Gooch family. Norm Gooch opened his first store in Winnipeg in 1927.

Members of the Gooch family could not be reached for comment to explain why the shop closed.

A short, handwritten note of farewell taped to the door is the only message left by the owners. Their website states, “Gooch’s would like to thank everyone for 89 amazing years in business.”

In a media interview from 2012, Marcus Gooch, 20 at the time, said he felt a sense of responsibility to keep the store going.

Neighbours on either side of them on Portage Avenue did not know why the store closed. A few people in the cycle retail scene who were contacted were too discreet or unable to comment.

Bill Yetman, the executive director of the Canadian Independent Bicycle Retailers Association, did not know Gooch’s but said many long-standing family-run shops face multiple pressures.

“Independent retailers out there are experiencing some interesting times right now,” he said.

“The guys who have been around for a long period of time are having to look at their business in a different way with new technology and new consumers with different expectations.”

Yetman said he didn’t know the Gooch family or the business, but he said closures of long-standing family-run bike shops are becoming all too common.

“Unfortunately, we’re seeing quite a bit of that across the country,” he said.

He said consumers are looking for a different kind of shop.

He didn’t know why Gooch’s closed, but he said, “if you are not willing to keep up some of that kind of stuff, some of these things (store closures) occur.”

Online consumer research and more knowledgeable cyclists create a different kind of merchandising experience than had been the case in the past, he said.

One local retailer said while cycling is on the upswing, the retail business can be a grind with most product now imported and fluctuating exchange rates wreaking havoc on the bottom line.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca