March 15, 2007 (Longueuil, QC) — The first Louis Garneau (LG) concept store opened yesterday in the Vélo 2000 boutique just south of Montreal. The boutique, at 550 Roland Therrien Blvd, which has operated as a bike shop at the same location since 1987, now serves as a showroom for the complete line of Louis Garneau’s 1,259 products, including bicycles, bicycle accessories, and clothing. To commemorate this change to a concept store, the boutique is now called “Louis Garneau par Vélo 2000.”

About 120 people were on hand for the in-store ribbon cutting evening celebration that included LG owner, Louis Garneau; boutique owner Michel Lucier; Alex Stieda, the first North American to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France; the mayor of Longueuil, Claude Gladu; and several federal and provincial politicians.

With wine and cheese and live blues and jazz music in the background attendees took in the 6,000 square feet of floor space. On display were LG bicycles, starting with a $59 kids’ tricycle up to the high end, $6,679 Sonix 6.5 SL carbon road bike. Complementing the bike selections were LG accessories ranging from helmets, to water bottles, to air pumps, to bike trailers. The LG clothing is arranged into categories for children, men, elite athletes, women, and modus vivendi (which is gym and yoga clothing for women).

There is also a large bike workshop in the boutique where four mechanics can work simultaneously. In wintertime, the boutique will carry a large selection of LG coats and snowshoes. Very few products in the boutique are not from the LG line. Despite the heavy presence of bikes, the boutique feels more like a high-end clothing store, something that might appeal to women customers.

“It’s difficult for one bike store to present the entire line of our products,” explains Garneau, who was an Olympic cyclist for Canada before becoming an entrepreneur with cycling products. “We continue to innovate and now have so many product lines that we need a space like this. We would like to have LG concept stores in all major Canadian cities,” he continued. “The next one will probably be in Quebec City and then in Vancouver and Edmonton; the future is in this kind of store. But we don’t want to compete with local boutiques; we want them to be our partners.” LG will also soon open a concept store in North Conway, NH, but this will be a factory outlet and thus not the same model as the Longueuil boutique. Although the LG factory is in Quebec City, the concept store planned there will be a separate entity, following the model of the Longueuil boutique.

Garneau suggests that LG has one of the biggest selections of product lines among cycling goods manufacturers worldwide. “We have fewer bikes than Specialized, but more accessories,” he cited as an example. Garneau also said that Velo 2000 might sell mountain bikes from another supplier because LG does not cover that product line.

Michel Lucier first proposed a concept store to Garneau at the September 2006 ExpoCycle trade show in Montreal. Garneau, who has known Lucier for many years, immediately found the idea interesting. In a speech during the evening festivities Garneau praised Lucier for having the guts to bring this idea forward.

Alex Stieda and his wife, Samantha, flew in from Edmonton for the concept store opening and were noticeably impressed with some of the products on display. Stieda, who knew Garneau when they were both on Canada’s national cycling team in the 1980s, became the first North American to wear the TdFs yellow jersey in 1986 when he rode for the Motorola team.

Now a father himself, Stieda had his eye on a Garneau road bike for youngsters with 24-inch wheels. He also commented on the state of pro cycling today pointing to stricter doping controls in bike racing today that make it an ideal time for young talent to start racing. “Cycling is also probably the most tested sport (for doping), which means dopers often get caught,” added Stieda. Responding to rumours that he may be taking the idea of the LG concept store back to Edmonton, Stieda smiled and described his visit to Quebec as, “an exploratory visit.”

Vancouver’s Paul Dragan, owner of Reckless Bike Shops, who was on hand for the evening also said that the suggestion that he could be opening a similar store in BC was “an unsubstantiated rumour.”

www.velo2000.qc.ca