Aftermarket products physical stores

S

SGRG

Member
Hello,

Is it just me, or are we seriously lacking proper aftermarket parts stores here in England? I’m not talking about Halfords—they’re fine for basics, but I mean proper physical stores like the ones you see in Japan, where you can walk in and check out everything from steering wheels and seats to coilovers and exhaust systems, all under one roof.

I’ve come across places like Demon Tweeks online, but I really wish there were more brick-and-mortar shops where you can actually see and feel the parts before buying.

I’m based in Essex and don’t mind driving a couple of hours. If anyone knows of any decent places worth visiting, I’d really appreciate the recommendation. At the moment, I’m on the hunt for a Momo Model 08 steering wheel and a Recaro seat, but I’d rather see them in person before pulling the trigger.

Thanks in advance!
 
With distance selling protections in the UK there is less risk, but I get what you mean for an item that is expensive to ship back.
 
There are a couple for seats, but you've got to consider the variety of vehicles (and age) that they have to cater for in the UK vs Japan (i.e. limited JDM, imported cars, that don't tend to go much above 5 years old before exported).

For Recaro seats, you have Demon Tweeks, Capital Seating, and GSM Sports Seats (aka SportsSeats4U) - who all have showrooms...but even then they probably won't have every model/size/colour for you to try.

https://www.capitalseating.co.uk/recaro-seats
https://www.sportseats4u.co.uk/product-category/racing-seat-harness-roll-cages-brands/recaro-road-and-race-seats/
 
Appreciate the recommendations @mmm-five. Will make an appointment to visit both, hopefully they have some recaro in stock. Yes point taken on difficulty trying to cater for some many options. In my simple mind I was thinking at least a store that stocks the popular “universal” products like recaro seats and momo steering wheels would be available.
 
I don't know about cars anymore, but there is still a big market for physical stores in motorbike stuff.
Up the road from me is the biggest bike accessory store in the UK....."sportsbikeshop". They now have many stores nationwide and stock almost everything; at great prices too.

They are so good I am going over there soon to get a maintenance kit for my K&N filter for my Z3 (can't get it cheaper anywhere).

I am pretty sure they don't do Recaros or Momo wheels though. No market for them in their game TBH. :wink: :lol:
 
There definitely seems more catering to the motorbike market for sure.

Well I managed to find Brown and Geeson in Essex which stocks all things Momo. While it is not a physical store, team there was very good. They allowed me to stop by checkout the wheels in person before buying one. Always good to see the goods in person before buying. So conclusion is there are speciality businesses out there, just need to search hard and do a little bit of work to find them.
 
No Recaro, but Carnoisseur have showrooms with other seat brands.

https://www.carnoisseur.com/fitting-centres
 
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