So what if.... Mec sells limited number of SKU's and to an entirely different market than they have historically sold to. Lets face it, the LBS/IBD is not going to see the same customers that MEC/REI see. Different groups, different target markets etc. So say RF starts selling a lot more product, more jobs for Canadians in BC = a good thing. They sell a LOT more... of specific things, that are likely not the UBER high end Gucci type hardware, more of the run of the mill replacement parts... awesome for the consumer, getting a far superior locally made product for a fair price. Good for Mec, good for RF. Awesome... The spin off could/may/should be an overall reduction in the cost of ALL RF products, including the high end. Economies of scale...more people buying, more employees building, larger orders for raw materials, deeper discounts on all counts. "if you ship 1 box you pay x, if you ship 1000 boxes you pay 1/2 of x". I realize that this is a "sunny day scenario", but hey, things are going to change, change is as they say, inevitable. RF could have gone to Walmart/Big Box store, but lets face if (no pun intended) they went with a Canadian company employing Canadian workers supplying them with Canadian made goods. Short term this may add more load to the already stressed LBS, I hope it doesn't. I seriously doubt I will be buying any $400.00 cranks at MEC, but I likely still will at my LBS. Oh and Sport Mart was epic failure on the Iron Horse side of things... high end bikes do not sell well at a retail level because of, you guessed it...no service. REI sells bikes all right, and so will Mec, consumer level bikes. You wont get your next SC V10 at Mec anytime soon. Your friendly neighborhood LBS will be where your Interac card hits the counter for that!!

Stoke = On

Nice.... way to represent!