Performance Bike is no longer....buy closeouts now

[::: :::]

https://www.performancebike.com/shop/importantupdate

102 brick & mortar stores closing nationwide

AN UPDATE ON PERFORMANCE BICYCLE – 12/07/2018

To our customers,

The parent company of Performance Bicycle has entered into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and as a result there have been significant changes to our businesses. Currently, all Performance Bicycle stores are holding Store Closing Sales. Here is what it means for you, our valued customers:

• All Sales are Final. No exchanges, no returns* and no adjustment on prior purchases. (*Refunds may only be for merchandise having a latent defect and returned within 7 days of purchase with receipt).
• We are no longer accepting "Special Orders."
• We can no longer offer Ship-to-Store, Ship-from-Store, store transfers or Store Pickups of online or phone orders.
• We will no longer price-match competitors, or PerformanceBike.com (sale pricing, coupons and other layered discounts). Online purchases cannot match in-store prices.
• Our Layaway, Trade-In and Hide-a-Bike programs are discontinued. (Existing Hide-a-Bike purchases will remain available for pickup on or before Christmas Eve.)
• Online purchases can no longer be returned to any Performance Bicycle store. Contact our customer service department here to discuss returning your online purchase.
• We will no longer offer financing at any Performance store. Financing remains available for online purchases through PayPal Credit.
• We will no longer offer Lifetime Free Adjustments.
• All manufacturers' warranties remain in effect for purchases either in-store or online.
• We can no longer offer free, in-store assembly of bikes purchased at PerformanceBike.com or via phone order.
We no longer offer Performance Bicycle led group rides at our retail locations.

For Team Performance members:

• All current members' accounts, and their points, will expire at the end of their current membership.
• New memberships, membership renewals and auto-renewals are suspended in all stores and online.
• All current Team Performance Members can redeem points online at PerformanceBike.com and over the phone at 1-800-727-2453.
• All current Team Performance Members can earn points on purchases made online at PerformanceBike.com.
• There will no longer be automatic 2nd Business Day shipping on member orders. Upgraded shipping remains available for an extra charge and online orders receive free shipping on orders of $49 or more.

Extended Service Plans (all locations):

• Our Extended Service Plans will no longer be offered at any Performance Bicycle location.
• We no longer sell Spin Doctor Extended Service Plans (ESP's). We will no longer provide ESP services. All Manufacturer's Warranties are in effect.

If you have additional questions, please ask one of our store associates or contact our Customer Service Center at 1-800-PBS-BIKE.

Thank you,

Performance Bicycle

[wyeaster]

wow that's a bit of a shock

[SJG]

not really, I have no idea how they lasted this long. The store here is HUGE, I never saw more than a couple customers walking around the place, with 5-10 employees in there per shift. It's amazing the overhead didn't kill them sooner, they must have a magnificent accountant.

[wyeaster]

actually, it was a bit of a shock.

[Rideski]

It was posted in the black friday thread. I went in to take a look, they had tubes marked up to $9 and then 30% off... Most bikes were still above a grand or $1500. Obv things might change. An article said they have a slew of potential corp buyers.
I don't get the BK loopholes for big biz. As a small biz owner if I fuck up, that's my house on the line. These guys? Skating away from millions in bills owed. Bullshit. But yeah if they start unloading bikes for a hundo I'd probably grab one.

[Skistack]

Yeah, never understood the move to retail locations. Huge stores, same shit and prices as their website. It's shame, I've been an online customer for years.

[Skistack]

It was posted in the black friday thread. I went in to take a look, they had tubes marked up to $9 and then 30% off... Most bikes were still above a grand or $1500. Obv things might change. An article said they have a slew of potential corp buyers.
I don't get the BK loopholes for big biz. As a small biz owner if I fuck up, that's my house on the line. These guys? Skating away from millions in bills owed. Bullshit. But yeah if they start unloading bikes for a hundo I'd probably grab one.

The store's landlords will be the ones taking it up the ass. Chapter 11 will let them out of their leases on the unprofitable locations (i.e. probably all of them) for $0 or pennies on the dollar.

[GeezerSteve]

No shock here. The parent company, ASE, filed the BK petition nearly a month ago. I first heard Chapter 11 rumors early this year.

Notwithstanding the "Store Closing Sales," it's possible they will reject most of their leases and keep a few B&M stores. Based on what I've read, ASE has not settled on a Chapter 11 strategy. It appears some assets are going up for sale in January, while some B&M locations will continue operating. It's possible that they may try to cut better lease deals with some LLs then pedal the lease to a new third party operator.

Ya never know how a multiple store B&M Chapter 11 goes until the fat lady sings. I'll be watching this one.

[jackattack]

Bummed for all the former LBS employees who were left with no choice but to work for these soul-less places and are once again out of a job. How many brick and mortar stores have gone out of business due to loss leaders like performance?

Fuck em.

[wyeaster]

just came from the beaverton store. the people who worked there had heard rumors over time but had no idea until 5 days ago and that store has been profitable. need a 20" bike with gears for the kid but was hoping for something less than $230.

every time i was there it was busy. we bought a couple bikes and lots of gear from there over the years.

[GeezerSteve]

The store's landlords will be the ones taking it up the ass. Chapter 11 will let them out of their leases on the unprofitable locations (i.e. probably all of them) for $0 or pennies on the dollar.

Yeah, the LL's will take a hit. A rejected lease is deemed to be breached. If the location is in a shopping center, the BK Code has a formula for calculating the damages resulting from the lease. Damages resulting from breaches of non-shopping center will be determined by applicable state law. LLs have a duty to mitigate, of course. When all the lease damages are calculated, the LLs become unsecured creditors, i.e, suck hind tit, which, as you said, means pennies on the dollar or zero. (Some of the vendors likely have security interests in inventory and in all likelihood a bank has a dragnet security interest against all inventory not covered by a vendor security interest. Hence, there won't be much money to go around after admin costs.) As I said above, it's possible ASE will try to cut deals with some LLs and sell operation to a third party operator. ETA: It appears AES might own the RE of some locations.

[GeezerSteve]

Bummed for all the former LBS employees who were left with no choice but to work for these soul-less places and are once again out of a job. How many brick and mortar stores have gone out of business due to loss leaders like performance?

Fuck em.

Yeah, that's the sad irony of this.

[mntlion]

Yeah, that's the sad irony of this.

on the plus side, maybe some LBS can get more work/re-open/come back to life?

[evdog]

on the plus side, maybe some LBS can get more work/re-open/come back to life?

Hopefully. I have always been blown away how many performance locations there are in SD on top of the dozens of bike shops we have. Hopefully this will be good for the independent shops.

[Jonny Snow]

I haven't bought anything from them since the mid 90's.

I wonder why they went bankrupt......???????????

[El Chupacabra]

I liked Performance Bike. Decent house brand shorts, good city/touring tires for cheap.

[::: :::]

I haven't bought anything from them since the mid 90's.

I wonder why they went bankrupt......???????????

you really must have bought a lot back in the day



i liked the performance in house clothing line...i'm kinda bummed the store is dying off

[GeezerSteve]

Performance Bike is not necessarily dying off. It's a Chapter 11 BK. There's a chance that ASE will do a reorg plan and continue to operate PB as a pared down biz, maybe on-line and some B&M stores or maybe only on-line. Or maybe PB's assets (including trade name, clothing private label contract rights, etc.) may get bought by one or more third parties who will continue the biz (or parts of it). Or maybe it'll be a liquidating 11. Time will tell.

Think back to Chouinard Equipment's Chapter 11 BK, in which the BK estate sold most of the assets (including the black diamond trademark) to a new biz controlled mostly by CE insiders called Black Diamond. Yvon Chouinard continued to operate his other biz, Patagonia (soft goods). After a few bumps in the road, the CE Chapter 11 resulted good outcome for consumers.

OTOH, lots of Chapter 11's result in big fucking messes with LLs and unsecured creditors getting completely fucked over.

It's way too early to speculate how this will turn out, although I'll say now that I'd be surprised if somebody -- either a restructured PB or a third party asset buyer -- doesn't continue to market Performance clothing in the future.

[jacob_dbu]

Performance Bike is not necessarily dying off. It's a Chapter 11 BK. There's a chance that ASE will do a reorg plan and continue to operate PB as a pared down biz, maybe on-line and some B&M stores or maybe only on-line. Or maybe PB's assets (including trade name, clothing private label contract rights, etc.) may get bought by one or more third parties who will continue the biz (or parts of it). Or maybe it'll be a liquidating 11. Time will tell.

Think back to Chouinard Equipment's Chapter 11 BK, in which the BK estate sold most of the assets (including the black diamond trademark) to a new biz controlled mostly by CE insiders called Black Diamond. Yvon Chouinard continued to operate his other biz, Patagonia (soft goods). After a few bumps in the road, the CE Chapter 11 resulted good outcome for consumers.

OTOH, lots of Chapter 11's result in big fucking messes with LLs and unsecured creditors getting completely fucked over.

It's way too early to speculate how this will turn out, although I'll say now that I'd be surprised if somebody -- either a restructured PB or a third party asset buyer -- doesn't continue to market Performance clothing in the future.

We're you an investment banker in your past life?

[GeezerSteve]

We're you an investment banker in your past life?

Ha ha. Nope. Over a span of 25 years I did quite a bit of work on Chapter 11 BKs, usually as creditor's counsel, and also as special counsel for the estate a few times. I've been involved a couple dozen Chapter 11 retail debtor workout negotiations.

[mtngirl79]

Bummed for all the former LBS employees who were left with no choice but to work for these soul-less places and are once again out of a job. How many brick and mortar stores have gone out of business due to loss leaders like performance?

Fuck em.

I'm bummed for all bike mechanics. My favorite bike mechanic is fucking rad and knows so much.

He makes 16 dollars an hour. He rebuilds suspension. He has machined parts himself to fix shit when parts weren't available.

I'm pretty sure he could fix anything.

I feel like the knowledge required warrants more money but even high end stuff is replaceable cheaper than mechanics to fix it...

[Eluder]

I'm bummed for all bike mechanics. My favorite bike mechanic is fucking rad and knows so much.

He makes 16 dollars an hour. He rebuilds suspension. He has machined parts himself to fix shit when parts weren't available.

I'm pretty sure he could fix anything.

I feel like the knowledge required warrants more money but even high end stuff is replaceable cheaper than mechanics to fix it...

It's kind of a shitty trade.... your knowledge base never equals your pay.

[GeezerSteve]

Yeah, I feel for those guys. I worked my way through college as a bicycle shop rat, officially "head mechanic," and a few years later for a bit in a different shop/different state before law school. I loved the bike shop community but never imagined I could make a living at it.

[mtngirl79]

I make them huge batches of cookies.

[TBS]

While I feel for the shop rats and retail folks getting the shaft, I for one am happy these chuckleheads are going under.

Fifteen years ago I bought a training stand from them, and got suckered into joining their Team Performance Discount Club. “It pays for itself with the discount on the trainer” they said.

What they didn’t tell me was that it was in-fucking-possible to get out of their fucking club and make the annual $29.95 fee stop. Hours and hours spent on the phone with their CSRs trying to end the relationship, and with the bank trying to dispute the charge, to no avail. Cost of that fucking trainer probably ended up tripled.

At least now maybe their annual fee will stop...