Discover Bikes is opening a new Swindon store on March 15, after the previous store closure last year.
The new shop sits by SN1 Customs. It is in the Cheney Manor Industrial Estate area, near Moredon Sporting Hub, just 200 meters away. Discover Bikes will operate in a two-story, fully accessible facility, and they will be open every day.
Mark Sealey is their general manager. He says the team is excited for the Swindon move, as this reopening marks a return to Swindon for the staff who lost their jobs when 99 Bikes closed last year.
Mark said they were once Hargrove Cycles, which became 99 Bikes after an Australian company bought the business, then closed it. Staff then started Discover Bikes near South Cerney.
Their plan was to re-hire the Swindon staff. Opening this new branch achieves that goal. Mark calls their turnaround “a bit of a win,” as it has been less than a year since leaving Swindon.
The March 15 date is significant because it is within a year of the old store’s closing. They wanted to return before a year passed, and now, all their plans have aligned perfectly.
The cycling industry has faced challenges recently, and many cycling businesses struggled. Discover Bikes sees this as a victory, expanding while others close down stores.
Discover Bikes focuses on more than sales; it also focuses on its community. Mark wants to finish what they started fifteen years ago when they first opened in Swindon.
For them, it’s a new venture, and they want to support people. They want to make cycling more accessible to everyone and achieve greater involvement. The shop makes it easier for women to enter the cycling world.
Cycling is often male-dominated, which can intimidate women, Mark said. They worked hard to break down barriers and aim to make cycling less intimidating for women.
Discover Bikes also focuses on community impact. They support a local race team in Swindon, focusing not on speed but on cycling interest. They want more people cycling.
Mark says people don’t cycle to become rich; people do it because they genuinely love it.