Mike Ashley's Sports Direct in market for £100m Evans Cycles sale?

I actually find Evans too expensive for such a big chain. After reading about the poor treatment of staff, I can't see how Ashley could be any worse. From a consumer point of view if they can retail goods as cheaply as sports direct I think the likes of wiggle might have some competition. I work bloody hard for my money and to be honest value for money is very important, if this is offered I will buy.

The Evans in Liverpool has appalling staff levels as when I visited them with my brother who is a frequent customer we stood around for 10 minutes waiting for the opportunity to give them money! One staff was with a customer and the other thought talking to an area manager more important that a £60 sale. Not a problem when I buy walking gear at sports direct.

One thing i will say about Ashley is he will make it a success if he buys the company. As for "tat" sold at Sports Direct, there are some items which could be described as such however due to his buying power he sells a lot of good gear, such as Asics, Nike, Adidas etc, at much cheaper prices than say JD Sports.

I get all my trainers, tracksuits plus my kids football boots and kit from there and i've saved a fortune.

My mate plays golf (about a 10 handicap) and he gets all his gear from there as again its good quality and much cheaper.

Just because its Mike Ashley dont give it a miss you could be much better off.

'I never shop at Evans, but I wouldn't wish mike Ashley / sports direct on them '

I do shop at Evans, but if Ashley took over I wouldn't shop there again.

I like Evans prices. They do price match with the big online sellers and you can then exchange Tesco clubcard vouchers for Evans vouchers of double the value. I suspect they're not making a lot of money out of me.

@jimmyd

I was a workshop manager for 2 large Evans stores in London; non-management staff (i.e. sales assistants and mechanics) were on minimum wage (although could make a reasonable bonus if the store traded well), and hours were not guaranteed

Every autumn we'd start shedding staff as hours were cut to the minimum, staff would leave (try surviving in London on 14 hours a week), we'd be understaffed during the winter, and then have to recruit in the Spring, meaning a constant churn of staff, and lack of experienced staff.

Evans did try recruiting "cashiers" but soon realized that even a basic sales assistant in the bike industry needs to have some knowledge of bikes, to sell just the right inner tube.

Eventually the permanent staff would get fed up, find a slightly better paid job in a LBS, or depart the bike industry.

Bike shops in London have a real problem with being able to recruit and retain competent staff, especially mechanics - bike shops are competing with a wide range of employers in different sectors, 'loving your job' sounds nice but when its minimum wage and uncertain hours, that love only goes so far.

To be fair to Evans, its not unique to them, most chain retailers (including Cycle Surgery, and high street i.e. not bike industry ) operate this way.

A Wiggle / Bridgepoint Capital deal could be interesting, it's no secret that they are looking for a presents on the high street.

I never shop at Evans, but I wouldn't wish mike Ashley / sports direct on them

Well if it happens, and Mike Ashley can wield his massive bulk buying powers, it could be very good news, stuff will be cheaper. If he try's to turn it into another Chav emporium, and the quality suffers in favour of pure quantity, maybe not so good.

What he did to lillywhites was criminal...and whatever you think of Evans...just think how bad it could get with him at the helm.

And I'm sure the Evans staff inc mechanics are really gonna be happy on minimum wage zero hour contracts...

Halfords or Sports Direct buying Evans - which is worse?

Mike Ashley likes nothing more than making money so i cant see him buying Evans, there isn't enough money in it.

evans as well as crc work on a really silly margin, something along the lines of 4% profit margin.

tesco etc have a similar thing but obviously turn over billions so make hundreds of millions.

not sure about evans but i got told crc only made a 1/2 million profit last year, still a good profit in a sense but terrible if your turning over 100 million.

"Sports Direct has made a string of acquisitions of sports brands"....and pretty much destroyed each and every one.

And what happened to Field and Trek that Sports Direct acquired? I seem to remember most of the top brands disappeared from their stores before they vanished from the High Street.

Does Evans make money?
Liverpool branch is always empty when I go in.
I then recoil at the prices and leave!