Wheelhaus is a high end niche bicycle store in the inner city Sydney suburb of Enmore.
We featured the store, not long after it opened in our December 2013 online edition as part of a feature entitled Inside Four Unique New Niche Bikeshops that you can see here: http://bicyclingaustralia.com.au/2013/12/inside-four-unique-new-niche-bike-shops
Until now Wheelhaus would have been in the running for the prize for the smallest floor space of any bike shop in Australia. They could only fit five customer repair bikes in their workshop, including one on the work stand and the entire store including showroom was 45 square metres.
But despite their tiny store, business has been good for co-founders Greg Chalberg and Greg Hamer.
They’re now moving 500 metres to the west and across to the north side of Enmore road.
“We hope to be open by late May,” said Greg Chalberg. “The new shop is already pretty tidy. It used to be an art gallery then a homebrew store. That’s a nice change from our current shop which was a dump before we took over and we had to do a lot of work on it.
“Business has gone better than we expected it to since we opened 18 months ago. Our new shop will be double the space, but it’s still small. We’ll be looking to keep the same vibe of the current store, just with a little more breathing room so we can handle more than two customers in the store and still have space.”
Greg said that operating from a tiny store has shaped the way they do business. “We can’t afford to speculate on stock that might not sell,” he said. “We only sell what we like and understand and we have a very limited number of suppliers.”
“Focus is our core bike brand but we also do other brands including Stoemper which is a custom frame from the USA.”
“We’re still doing Attaquer which is Greg’s clothing brand and we’re also doing Mapp from Melbourne and The Athletic out of Portland, Oregon.”
For a new business, the two Greg’s also seem to have struck an enviable work / life balance, only being open from Tuesday to Saturday each week.
“We open 11 am to 7 pm during the week and 10 am to 4 pm Saturdays. People around here like us being open until 7pm. Sunday is family day and Monday is our big ride day,” said Greg.
Here’s a photo and post from the Wheelhaus Facebook page showing their new store.
Wheelhaus’ current store.
Inside Wheelhaus’ current store