A Louisville-based corporate that sought to create a countrywide marketplace for high-end used bicycles, and which raised just about $100 million from traders, is last up store.
The Professional’s Closet mentioned in a information liberate remaining week that it’s going to stop operations this month.
The corporate didn’t give a reason why for the closure, and CEO Jonathan Czaja didn’t reply to a Tuesday electronic mail. He advised BusinessDen previous this yr that The Professional’s Closet — which expanded aggressively in recent times — used to be experiencing a slowdown following a virulent disease surge.
“Everybody sought after a motorbike all over COVID as a result of they have been all trapped inside of in Zoom calls and sought after to get out and enjoy the outside,” Czaja mentioned in January. “All the trade had this expansion.”
The Professional’s Closet used to be based in Boulder 18 years in the past via professional mountain biker Nick Martin, who led the corporate till 2020, giving strategy to corporate board member John Levisay. Levisay stepped down within the spring of 2023 and used to be changed months later via Czaja.
The Professional’s Closet sought to take used motorbike gross sales — historically a neighborhood marketplace facilitated via motorbike retail outlets and websites like Craigslist — and cross nationwide. It purchased high-end motorcycles at once from house owners and refurbished them prior to reselling them.
Czaja prior to now when compared the association to the “qualified pre-owned” used automobile marketplace.
“In the event you’re making an attempt Craigslist or Fb Market, you by no means slightly know what you purchased and what you’re getting till you get house and journey it,” Czaja mentioned in January. “Or even then it’s exhausting to inform.”
The Professional’s Closet web site now advertises a “Going Out of Trade Sale” with reductions as nice as 90 %.
Czaja advised BusinessDen in January that the corporate had about 80 workers and raised greater than $90 million from traders. Buyers incorporated Boulder-based Foundry Team and Ridgeline Ventures, and out-of-state companies Edison Companions and The Chernin Team.
In 2023, Czaja mentioned, the corporate bought 10,000 motorcycles, with consumers in each state and Canada. He declined to reveal earnings figures, past announcing it used to be within the tens of hundreds of thousands in 2023 and had returned to pre-COVID figures.
In 2021, The Professional’s Closet moved from Boulder to an roughly 130,000-square-foot facility at 1900 Taylor Ave., with each workplace and warehouse house. Whilst a lot of the corporate’s gross sales happened on-line, native consumers have been ready to talk over with and take take a look at rides.
There have been indicators of struggles. In October 2022, The Professional’s Closet lower 15 % of its personnel, mentioning “macroeconomic headwinds,” consistent with Bicycle Store and Business Information. 3 months later, the corporate lower extra personnel.
In pronouncing its closure, The Professional’s Closet — tagline: “Motorcycles are supposed for use” — mentioned it had bought 46,000 motorcycles over its lifestyles.
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