March 22, 2012 (Laval, QC) – Bicycles Quilicot officially opened its third retail location last week. The independent retailer claims to be the oldest bike shop in Quebec (dating from 1915) and now its newest store is in Laval, just north of Montreal. Fittingly, the street address is 1680 B oul. de l’Avenir (Blvd of the Future).
Katy St. Laurent, the 2002 Canadian road champ and now a clothing designer, was on hand to organize a fashion show parade around the store while about 100 spectators looked on. The fashion lines presented included lines such as Gore, Nalini, and Sugoi. The women’s clothing section looked as large as the men’s section – apparel was selling for 20% off on opening day and moved well.
About 100 bikes were on display and most were from Specialized in addition to Look and Devinci models. The line ups feature primarily road models ranging from about $500 for entry level hybrids to about $15,000 for a top-end Specialized S-Works bike and custom bikes can be ordered as well.
Pedal spoke with resident Specialized Body Geometry expert at Quilicot, Gary Jones, who demonstrated the sophisticated equipment, cameras, and software used to fit bicycles. Jones has been with the company for about ten years, starting to work there when it was still owned by the Quilico family. He received his Body Geometry training in California telling Pedal, “We fitted the Specialized-Mazda women’s team with Body Geometry. It can take about three hours per cyclist to do the fit right.”
A specious workshop adjoins the showroom floor and one of the mechanics told us that he was “spoiled” to be working with such nice conditions. He laughed when asked how the hang up and retreive repaired bicycles hanging on ceiling hooks some 24 feet above the floor. “We use a long pole to get them down; it’s quite a sport!”
Lebeau noted that the Laval store has been open unofficially for about two weeks and that business has been good to date. “I’ve sold a lot of bikes,” he said. His new store is in a small strip mall that includes an art supply store and a sushi restaurant.
Pedal previously reported on Quilicot’s intention to open a retail store in the western Montreal borough of Lachine, but Lebeau indicated that there were problems there. “I had already hired the staff and when it became apparent Lachine would not happen, we rebounded to open here in Laval instead.” Quilicot’s two other retail locations are on Masson Street in Montreal and on St. Charles Street in Sainte-Therese.
Bicycles Quilicot Laval
1680, Boul. de l’Avenir (X St. Martin)
450-934-1150
Website