Halfords is set to axe its specialist cycling chain Cycle Republic following a strategic review and will instead rely on etail stablemate Tredz to appeal to bike enthusiasts.
The cycling and autocentre chain plans to shutter all 22 Cycle Republic stores and the Boardman Performance Centre outlet, with talks to sell the sites to a third-party buyer underway.
The closures, which will impact up to 226 jobs across the business, are expected to talk place in the latter half of 2020.
Halfords has said it will avoid redundancies wherever possible and the closure of Cycle Republic “allows us to improve our return on capital whilst freeing up investment and resources to continue to drive our services-focused strategy, with an emphasis on accelerating the growth of our motoring businesses”.
The retailer said it will continue to serve its specialist cycle customer through existing Halfords stores, which will continue to carry Boardman product ranges, and its primarily online speciality cyclist etailer Tredz.
Chief executive Graham Stapleton said: “The board has come to the difficult, but necessary, decision to propose the closure of Cycle Republic, our retail store-focused performance cycling brand.
“This proposal is not a reflection of the hard work of our Cycle Republic colleagues, who I would like to thank for their commitment and passion in serving our customers. We are now moving into a period of consultation with impacted colleagues with a view to mitigating as many redundancies as possible.
“Going forward we propose to focus our investment and resources in Halfords and Tredz, through which we will deliver market-leading specialist propositions for both mainstream and enthusiast cyclists via a business model that improves our overall economics.”
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