Hi-Fi Shop

[cjackson]

The wife and I where talking last night and I had come up with the idea of opening a Hi-Fi shop. Back where i used to live (darlington) there wa a hi-fi shop there that was brilliant literally from floor to ceiling it was amps, speakers, cd decks, tape decks ... you name it you could find it in this shop. I always remember going into this shop and staying for hours looking at all the stuff in there. Alot of it was second hand but it was wokirng, they had a small workshop for minor repairs.

The guy who ran it used to offer a "hi-fi building service". So you'd tell him what you wanted and tell him our budget and the man would build you a system that would be best to suit you and would change individual parts if you wern't happy.

Sadly, the guy died and had no family to take it over and then after that I think it just disappeared.

I would love something like this and had a thought of running something similar. SInce I'm an IT guy I was thiking of combiningthe hi-fi stuff and IT stuff all in one shop in diffrent sections of course.

At first it may only be second hand stuff and things I can get hold of.

What do people think and what do you think business would be like ?

We have a Richer Sounds in Hull which I am a massive fan of, but it's not nessescarily always in someones budget to use them, and some of the older stuff which they don't sell is better than the new stuff

.

So opinions please everyone ... what do you lot think ????

 

[The_Lhc]

I think you'd be extremely brave in the current climate (although a lot of the dealer guys on here seem to be doing pretty well at the moment), I think you'd also be doing very well to get a loan from any bank at the moment (do you have any idea what sort of startup costs you're looking at?).

Where do you live now, what dealers are in the area now and is there actually room in the market for another one?

 

[cjackson]

I'm in Hul at the moment, the only places we have got is Panasonic and Richer Sounds. Both not particularly cheap.

The plans will be for the next ciouple of years. I can get shops for dirt cheap here as little as £75 a week, doesn't have to be anything massive. I can get stock dirt cheap aswel and already have a good amount of stuff in the loft that would go straight into the shop.

I have sold a few Hi-Fi's such as a few Stack systems such as one of the old Pioneer systems and I sold a Technics system a few otnsha go for £400. I have met a few Hi-Fi enthusiasts here that want to build hi-fi's and have to go to the likes of Richer Sounds because there is no choice else where.

I think it's a good idea personally. Especially along side my PC shop.

 

[Anonymous]

I would not open a shop in Hull (my wife is from Hull and we're spending Xmas there) as it already has a number of specialist retailers such as Sevenoaks, Fanthorpes and Audio Room(just outside Hull) as well as Richer sounds. Hull is not a big city and many people don't have the budget for a decent hi-fi.

 

[cjackson]

Thanks for the replies, we will see what happens. We may end up not in Hull next year.

Take care all

Adios for now,

 

[The_Lhc]

And SuperFi apparently.

I'm a little surprised at the comment that Richer Sounds aren't cheap, they're consistently the cheapest "hi-fi" dealer I can find.

 

[jaxwired]

If you do it, don't combine IT stuff with HiFi in the same store. Focus on just HiFi. Doing both is probably a recipe for disaster.

 

[cjackson]

They are cheap compared to most, but for people who are unemployed they maybe could do with somewhere cheaper

 

[Andy H]

Hi I live in Hull, I admire your enthusiasm but think about it. Super Fi closed quite a few tears back, Sevenoaks just last year, is there the call for another HiFi retailer. As mentioned before we have Fanthorps(who also do sell 2nd hand hifi), Richer Sounds and Audio Room.

Most people are happy to buy from the High Street retailers and do not understand and/or willing to pay for true hifi.

Good luck if you do go ahead with it.

 

[Anonymous]

I think you just answered the question yourself when you said you remember staying in there for hours just looking, if every potential customer did that then not a lot of sales compared to overheads.

 

[Anonymous]

cjackson:

Back where i used to live (darlington) there wa a hi-fi shop there that was brilliant literally from floor to ceiling it was amps, speakers, cd decks, tape decks ... you name it you could find it in this shop. I always remember going into this shop and staying for hours looking at all the stuff in there. Alot of it was second hand but it was wokirng, they had a small workshop for minor repairs.

there is a similar shop in cambridge ... I pop in every monday ... he only sells 2nd hand stuff ... he operates similar to a pawn shop, except he does not loan money to you against the item ... he buys it then resells ... He has loads of tvs's and really good hifi equipment for dirt cheap ... aswell as musical instruments ....

good amps etc for under £100 ... average price for an older amp is £60 .... comes with a 28 day guarantee

have bought a few hifi related items there, but pop in mainly for the cd's .... there are loads and prices are between £2-£3 with guarantee .... he also seems to do well with fridges and washing machines

he does a roaring trade, especially with the overseas students .... many buy really expensive hifi systems, then when they finish studing, they sell to him ... he also does minor repairs