The history

The first shop was originally known as F.W. Evans Cycles and was located on Kennington Road in south east London. Evans Cycles traded from this site for thirty years.

The business was eventually purchased by Joseph Smith in the fifties. At the time the shop sold a range of cycles and toys, during the seventies Joseph Smith handed the business on to his son Gary Smith who turned the shop into a specialist cycle retailer. After more than 50 years of trading at Kennington Road the site came up for development so the shop was relocated to Waterloo at 77- 79 The Cut.

During the nineties, Gary worked with Mike Rice, the Croydon store franchise owner, to bring the other franchised stores under the control of F.W. Evans Cycles (UK) Ltd. During this time the Evans Cycles Mail Order catalogue was launched, requiring the need for a central distribution centre, later established in Leatherhead, Surrey. This also coincided with the growth of a new type of retailing and the Evans Cycles web site was established.

Recent expansion

The business outgrew its original distribution centre in Leatherhead. In 2001 the head office and distribution centre re-located to Gatwick, Sussex, which is still the company’s base.

With a large and modern distribution centre in place the company was able to expand more rapidly and opened between two or three stores each year until 2006 when the company opened six stores. In 2004 Evans Cycles tested the water with a store location outside the South East of England – in Castleford, Yorkshire.

The pace of growth is continuing with 8 store openings across the country in 2007 with expansion expected to continue at the same pace over the next few years.

In addition to the store network, Evans Cycles also have a large Direct Sales business consisting of e-commerce sales, mail order and phone sales and Business to Business sales.

Current ownership

Trading as Evans Cycles, the registered parent company name is Evans Holdings Ltd. (registered office: Camino Park, James Watt Way, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9TZ). Evans Holdings and its subsidiaries are a private limited company (Evans Cycles Holdings Ltd. Company number: 6474505).

In 2008 a majority stake in Evans Cycles was acquired by Active LLP. The Smith family along with Managing Director Mike Rice retain a minority investment within the company.

Criticism

Evans Cycles has been criticised on a number of fronts:

• for strongly incentivising its retail and workshop staff to work in the interests of a retail business rather than customers; and
• for low wages for employees.

However, Evans have been praised for promoting awareness and supporting the cause of cycling amongst the general public. A company highly active in social media and wider cycling community, they are often able to connect with both their critics and their customers in a way which their smaller rivals are not.