Hein Gericke in adminstration

[simon_g]

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/General-news/2012/July/jul3112-hein-gericke-uk-in-administration/

[urbanfireblade]

Is this the first news of it? I thought i heard this quite a few months ago when George White went into Administration.
Im a fan of Hein Gericke clothing. They offer alot for your money to the average biker.

[Nottsbiker]

There's one down the road from my office, will keep an eye out for the sale :)

[urbanfireblade]

Bah! Mines like 20miles away :(
Think they sell on eBay dont they? George White did, i got some Suzuki Sv fairing panels for 80quid new genuine ones from them a month before they closed down. £465 from suzuki!!!

[simon_g]

Think there's been a couple of changes of ownership (of the UK arm of HG at least) in recent years.

They always seem to be empty when I go, and surely there's no need for 7 stores in the M25, plus quite a few more surrounding. Seems to me having a couple of big ones, who can actually stock everything, would have been a better way to go. I think they're franchised though so they don't have that sort of control.

[Funkatronic]

have noticed their stock lacking also, will keep an eye for the sales :-)
infinity next?

[Phatty]

There's one literally over the road from my office. Will keep an eye out for sales if it comes to that.

Typical, spent nearly a grand in there this year on new kit.

[simon_g]

have noticed their stock lacking also, will keep an eye for the sales :-)
infinity next?

They seem to have too many stores close together too.

Noticed the other day that the former Sondel shop on Upper St was being refitted for something else, possibly supermarket? What happened to the former George White on Shoreditch High St?

Could do with some new textiles but short of a HG liquidation sale, where else would be good to look inside the M25?

[He11cat]

One of my first jackets came from them in Germany :( I still have it and sadly it now looks like a childs size one! One of the best leathers I have owned despite all the abuse it had.
I think its really sad as for the money their stuff good!

All we can get here is Spada (everything of theirs seems to fall apart) or Richa.
Alpine starts and stuff no good for me as I am not a skiiny girl and very very short!

[Funkatronic]

sondels was awful, they deserved to shut, geoege white long gonr

shame about HG, their kit is good value and often do good deals (ggot my full allen ness one piece for 375 quid)

only other places that are have good stock are metropolis in vauxhall (who i hate with a passion)

gorgeous bikes in chelsea are great, good ppl very helpful but not cheap (but have been known to haggle), I also like the biker store on the a22 south godstone (just outside m25 in surrey)

[neilo]

I have some mixed feelings about this...

Chester is my local Hein Gericke, and they usually go out of their way to give me a good deal/good service. No question about this.

However the quality of their stuff hasn't always been the best e.g. ill-fitting, dodgy stitching, torn linings, tears at the seams, etc. In fact I've noticed that the quality of their latest stuff hasn't been as good as their earlier stuff. Some of their stuff is unnecessarily highly priced as well (for no increased level in overall quality). And I don't understand why they do away with models/styles that are clearly very successful/sought after, only to replace them with inferior stuff. If something works well, why fix it just for the sake of giving your range an update? Just change a few visual elements but essentially leave the item as is!

Still, they've never failed to try and sort out any issues (i.e. warranty claims) I've made.

Hope somebody buys them and helps improve the quality of their stuff...and I'd definitely keep buying from them.

[Phatty]

Sure enough, "closing down sale, everything reduced, everything must go" signs in the windows.

Some shelves/displays empty already.

[simon_g]

Online store is down.

Due to difficult trading conditions the Hein Gericke group is saddened to share the news that Hein Gericke UK is now trading in administration whilst the future of the UK operation is determined and hopefully secured. All 47 stores are open and a closing down sale with massive price cuts is being launched in-store, further details will be available via this website in the coming hours.
Hein Gericke (UK) Limited entered Administration on 30 July 2012. Simon Robert Thomas and Shelley Anne Bullman of Moorfields Corporate Recovery LLP, 88 Wood Street, London, EC2V 7QF, were appointed Joint Administrators. The Joint Administrators act as agents of the Company and without personal liability.

[littlejimmy12]

I'm off to my local one tomorrow, need a new lid :-)

[jerry]

bloody good quality gear ....what a shame

[Rally]

I can see it happening now, "George Whites buy the kit and sell it from their new shop in Swindon at knockdown prices!
BTW, for those unaware, George Whites now trade under three new names locally. The main one just being cheap clobber from the old main showroom.

[Phatty]

Went in today. Most things 20% off, some things 30% off. To qutoe the sales guy "not really any cheaper as we aleays had deals on anyway".

He seemed to think there was 4 interested buyers and they had 8 weeks to go whilst they put they're offers in for a buy out before they'd truly close.

[Scott1]

Closing down sale now on according to the website but I expect as above, things won't be much different from current prices. http://www.hein-gericke.co.uk/

[urbanfireblade]

I've just been to the nearest store to me and bought myself a new leather jacket. £300 down to £240. Tried on every jacket there :), long, short, textile and leather varieties and this one i've chosen fitted spot on straight away. Nice soft leather, not tight around the neck as the zip stops an inch from the top, no bunching up on the inner arms when you bend them(thermal linings on some jackets exaggerated this loads in the shop), minimal number of pockets(4 in total-2 in front, one vertical and one horizontal one on the inside) so i don't forget which pocket has which item in it. Zip only on the cuffs-no velcro strap to get caught when putting my gloves on. All in all in well pleased!
Should be a worthy replacement for my ageing Shoei textile jacket:spin:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/urbanfireblade/20120805_163613.jpg

[urbanfireblade]

Btw its about a 20% off sale, i got 60 quid off the £300 jacket, some jackets had bigger discounts but most were 20%. Staff were upbeat but i could hear them talking and seems they are expecting to be out of a job in the near future. I got asked if 'i need any help?' about a dozen times! About 10 customers in the shop when i was in there and at least one had 2 pairs of trousers he was buying. Think stock will sell steadily until the shelves are bare.

[liverpoolphil]

same in the north, 20% on most things until further notice. Must admit, I have always liked my local HG store (aintree, liverpool) the staff in their have always been very helpful. One guy was talking to me about rumours of a possible buy-out, so I do hope it works out for them.

[Saint aka ML]

Went to the one of M40 in London. All good cleaning stuff gone other then that all stock in place as normal with no real sale in sight, 10% off is no real bargain.

[S4Rs MacK]

.Visited the Bristol store yesterday and yes the signs all say 'Closing down sale - all must go'. Call me tight but the sale prices dont give much off considering. I have seen bigger discounts on normal sales.
So dont hold your breath if youre expecting to walk out with stuff having paid peanuts for it.

[neilo]

I think anybody that regularly buys stuff from a hein gericke store will know that 20% off isn't that much of a bargain. They were knocking £100s of pounds off stuff just before the company went into administration.

[DaffyDuc]

I too visited Bristol yesterday. Sadly the ladies clothing consisted of a handful of jackets and one pair of textile trousers. nothing in my size.

Hope someone buys it if only because jobs are difficult to come by for those made redundant.

[jerry]

My 12 years old heinGericke all seasons jacket is still perfect , after loads of use £299 when new its a little tight where i put on weight but never lets me down.

[urbanfireblade]

Seems it is only the Uk side of Hein Gericke in trouble, their german/parent company is still ok. Like someone else said there may be a possible buy-out.
Whats the policy with returns etc when they are in administration? I was told unless an item is faulty they will not refund or exchange.

[singletrack]

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/urbanfireblade/20120805_163613.jpg
Nice bike!
Is it in your living room?

[DaffyDuc]

Seems it is only the Uk side of Hein Gericke in trouble, their german/parent company is still ok. Like someone else said there may be a possible buy-out.
Whats the policy with returns etc when they are in administration? I was told unless an item is faulty they will not refund or exchange.

That's interesting, I hadn't realised it was only UK. When I was in the Bristol store last weekend I did notice the boots I bought in Germany last year were in the 'sale'. It was an unplanned and full price emergency purchase after the sole of my old boots parted company with the upper, I paid by Debit card so the conversion to sterling appeared on my bank statement. I still paid less then the price shown in the clearance sale last week. However, twice now I've ridden for a whole day in torrential rain and my feet have remained dry, so great boots and hats off to the Lidl (or Aldi) oversuit that also did what it said on the tin!! I would definately buy Hein Gericke again, but stock in UK stores means I'll have to wait for the next trip to the Black Forest.

[urbanfireblade]

Singletrack
No, lol it's my room upstairs, i have it hanging on the wall. Up until about 2yrs ago i used to do alot of cycling, 50/50 road and off-road on the South Downs, so i've built up a collection of nice bikes, i wrecked my right knee 2 yrs ago so hardly done it since. :(
I got a collection of Konas(Explosif, cindercone, hahanna, Kula Deluxe-my offroad bike), a Giant OCR road bike, as well as a few others.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/urbanfireblade/38771_481024412728_636072728_6640058_1567176_n.jpg