CABDA Announces Top Shops Challenge, waives all fees

Chicago — Organizers of the CABDA Expo announced a new initiative on Friday titled The Top Shops Challenge, a participation-based ranking of bicycle retailers. 

The program is open to all North American bicycle retailers, mobile operators, service-only businesses, rental locations, and bike fitters. Top Shop award recipients will be honored with receptions at each of the 2020 CABDA Expos. 
  
Participating retailers will be assessed on their answers to a series of questions in four categories: Uniqueness and Independence; Innovative Business Strategies; Professional Skills Community Involvement.  

“We’re going to ask open ended questions. We do not want a system of check-boxes because we are not interested in a bunch of cookie-cutter answers.” CABDA Show Director Jim Kersten said. “I reject the premise that there is only one solution, one answer, or one way of doing things; I think there are thousands. We want to hear from the shops about what is working for them, and then give other retailers the tools to improve their game.”

Kersten plans to also use the project’s results to produce a series of informal panel discussions for each of the three 2020 CABDA Expos. Selected finalists will speak about the unique solutions they have implemented in their stores, as well as answer questions from attendees. 

“The program is designed to be adaptive so that in future years, individual questions and even entire sections can be changed to make sure we are focusing on what is important.”  Kersten said. “We don’t want a static list. We are looking for something dynamic that we can use to identify the real leaders in our industry.”   

The program is scheduled to go live in late September, and finalists will be announced in December. There are no application fees for the first year of the program.

CABDA Expo is the fastest-growing bicycle trade show in North America. They have three trade events planned for 2020: San Diego, Chicago, and New York.