Small Business Saturday Blog

In 2014, husband and wife Gary and Fiona Ewing both left their ‘safe’, salaried jobs to open Inspiral Cycles: a good, honest, proper local bike shop for servicing and fixing all range of cycles, alongside sales of new bikes, plus parts, accessories and clothing.

The couple had a business vision which would serve the Durham Dales community. Away from the cities of the North East, this area has significant unemployment and deprivation, yet it also has stunning landscapes and amazing cycle routes. Gary says, “We wanted to help locals get out to enjoy and explore the countryside on their doorstep. We’re not simply a shop: we are primarily a service. Inspiral Cycles has very quickly established itself in our local community as a trusted, family-run local business where we help our customers get out and ride bikes, not try to sell them things regardless.”

Gary and Fiona told Small Business Saturday that customer engagement is why they exist in the first place: it is the free expert and personal advice, the quick tweaks to someone’s cycle to make it safe, the options given in suggesting fixes rather than just replacements, that their customers most value.

While it is Gary’s life-long cycling skill, knowledge and enthusiasm which pedals the bicycle side of the business, it is Fiona’s passionate community engagement which has firmly fixed Inspiral Cycles into the local consciousness. They are always happy to support local independent businesses, such as carrying out puncture repairs for their local pram shop or recommending local cycle-friendly cafes to their customers, and have engaged with local events such as Easter Egg hunts and allowing local schools to decorate the shop as part of the Advent Windows Event. They have also worked with local charities including the Hamsterley Trailblazers and taken part in events such as The Hamsterley Beast mountain bike challenge, raising money for Great North Air Ambulance Service.

In the past five years, the shop has gone from strength to strength, now boasting five members of staff in their close-knit team, with over 130 combined years of cycling expertise. Fiona adds: “This is an especially exciting time for us as Inspiral Cycles has grown to capacity in four years, thanks to our customer support. We are now looking forward to extending our current shop space, with more room for extra staff in a new workshop and therefore a quicker turnaround time on cycle repairs.”

Overall, they say, their long-term goal is to deliver the best service for customers, rather than what delivers the highest profit for the shop – and their 5-star Facebook and Google reviews confirm that they are currently hitting their target.