I am openning a shop. What equipment should I sell
Planning on opening a retail "store front" what equipment should I carry?? Should I sell at price points or sell what sounds good? How important is base response in speakers. What is the right approach??
I grew up in Albany, NY. A ton of hifi shops have come and gone over the last 2 or 3 decades. Only one has stayed.
Hippo's does things unlike most hifi shops I've seen. They actually advertise in print, radio, and TV. They carry one or two big box brands to get the average Joe's attention, like Sony and JVC. They advertise that stuff at a few bucks less than the big box stores (a Best Buy is about 5 minutes down the road).
When the average Joe walks in, they have to walk past a few McIntosh, Rotel, and Cambridge systems to get to the Sony stuff in the back. No one walks by a Mac anything without noticing it.
They don't bait and switch. They audition stuff like KEF and B&W against near equally priced Sony stuff. They show what a few more bucks will get, and what a few bucks less will get.
They do a lot of HT and stereo sales. They also do a ton of custom home and business installs. And they've embraced the iPod and DACs, rather than fight them.
They have a very knowledgable, non-snob, non-teenaged staff.
These things sound like common sense, yet how many dealers have actually done anything resembling this?
It would seem that there are very few bricks and mortar shops making money on (new) retail high end audio. As several have noted, custom HT installations are now the bread and butter for these businesses. I've been an investment baker advising businesses for most of my career and my advice in this instance would be:
"Proceed with extreme caution." Beyond that, just 2 specific thoughts.
Most small businesses do not fail because they are inherently unsustainable. Rather, they simply run out of money. Make sure that you are adequately capitalized before you jump in.
Keep your overhead under control! This would probably be the first priority, since you face an uncertain cash flow stream. Any meaningful nut could sink you.
Tough road and absolutely not helped by our current economy, unfortunately and economy aside the few good dealers left are suffering from the evils and arrogance of the many, who for years did the naughty, naughty.
Had Lunch last week with a few who are still involved in the business (manufacturing ) and the consensus was that they are not expecting any recovery before last quarter 2011, thread lightly..
Also, I'd like to second the advice in going in funded. If I had gone into business with more money, I have no doubt that success was there. Working revenue a major key. If you have a good plan, money and are willing to branch outside of just high end audio, you will have a good chance of success, Good Listening, Tim
Hi Weseixas, I don't know what you are trying to infer, but Marcof Electronics/SpeakerCraft was in Webster Groves Mo. 63119, we also made several electronics and were fairly well known in the late 70's to early 80's. Ed Martin the owner is still one of my best friends. I'm sorry if you have confused us, I've never heard of SpeakerKraft. In our latter years we were occasionally confused with the SpeakerCraft that does home theater and in walls and such. We still have some Marcof PPA-2 moving coil Head amps, if you'd like to buy one. Good Listening , Tim
Hi Weseixas, I wasn't trying to sound offensive, I guess that I felt challanged. I want to add, that we had one of our employees branch out and became fairly popular in his own right modding amps preamps and such, he is still in our area and still modding and building his own line, his name is John Hillig. Alot of people know John and his roots came from what he learned with Ed.
Come on guys. I want to open a shop and make money....X wife, BMW, ski trips to Aspen. No way that Speaker Craft is going to pay that bill. Audio people are to well educated. Can't make the car payment/alimony and trips to Aspen selling stuff like that. Cables and interconnects. That is where the money is. Please audiophile these readers know I am a dealer so stay away.
Cables and Interconnects. $32,500 for the first meter. The second meter is free.
If this works, I'd be willing to go back into business, let me know if you need a partner............ Nevermind You have to buy all of that stuff first..... Can you get all of your inventory on consignment?
I am in St. Louis, we actually did ok, sold 12, then Pioneer on low end, Arcam, in middle, PS Audio Plus several other things. Over all the real question is just why did we close? I had a partner, whe became less and less connected with the business, until I was doing it alone.... That can only last so long. The company was healthy enough that I pulled my investment money only out of the company, droe to the state capital and signed my interest over to my partner. Years ago, I was a CMC Stereo Store manager, after that I was doing custom speaker work, then went to work for SpeakerCraft/Marcof electronics, I later was a rep for several 12v companies, plus Sumo (at their end) Jamo, Straight Wire, PS Audio, Museatex/Meitner plus a few others. My own store was called "Sounds Right"
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