Velo Specialties owner Paul Domingue has closed his shop after six months in business.
Domingue said via email that the poor economy did him in.
“It was a decision that I could see coming as the summer months rolled by and the desperately lean retail environment in Tucson took its toll. I tried to hold on but things did not improve much in September…,” he wrote in an email.
He said he might have been able to hold on and make the business work, but it wasn’t going to happen fast enough.
“Ultimately, I just had to stop the bleeding. I closed the shop on September 30th,” he wrote.
He said his remaining stock will be sold by a third party seller. He said he isn’t sure what he’ll do next, but has several options available to him.
Domingue said he was thankful to all his customers and said he will still honor the year’s worth of free service he promised to his customers who purchased bike from him.
He asked that customers email him at velospecialties@gmail.com.
He announced on the shop’s Facebook page that the “shop ride” he organized will continue from the Starbucks at Stone and River at 7 a.m.
Damn, I’m so sorry to hear about this. It’s really hard to
hang on and attempt to make a living in this economy, even more difficult when you’re
trying to operate your own business. Sometimes it’s just a matter of paying the
bills and using what’s left to carry you over to the next month. As a business
owner, I’ll be the first to say, you need a job to pay the bills and business
to pay its bills. No extra money left over at this point in the game. Not the
best time to start a business, but I’ll be the first to pat you on the back for
trying.