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Can somebody tell me why the Music shops in Thurso and Wick are closing?
Were they selling the wrong range of goods?
If so what range would folk want?
Would a new music shop be welcomed and supported?
I'm needing information to pass on to somebody in the music shop business who might be interested in expanding his business to Caithness.
reason being i think is because the download of music has taken away the gift of buying CD's these days...
Most folk do not go out and buy a CD they sit in the comfort of there own home and double click... U know what I mean!
Sorry, I meant Music Shop as in Shop specialising in Musical Instruments etc, he does also sell CD's etc but main business in Musical Instruments.
I dunno.. ALot of folk will Double click again for there instruments...
What i think they need is a place... With a varity of Instruments set up... And u can go in a strum away.. bash away on them!..
play before u buy maby... Like in inverness music shop everything is set up u can play!
He's got everything set up in his excisting shop, he even has guys in a couple of times a week giving lessons on various instruments. He sells everything from Digeridoos, bagpipes , guitars to tin whistles, mouth organs etc. Has about £30K worth of stock in his shop at all times. He does all the amps etc too. However he's in Orkney !!
If he's such a success in Orkney, as he sounds to be, why has he got you hackan' aboot on a penny ante message board trying to find out if its worth his while to open up in Thurso.
That minor rant notwithstanding I suspect the present owner couldn't really be bothered running the business anymore and there is still a substantial market for instrumentation (not CD's) locally.
I think the Music Shop and Thurso made most of its money from CD sales. With the popularity of downloading music these days, plus the incoming of Asda and Tesco which sells CD's cheap, James did the right thing and got out while he was ahead.
It is perfectly possible to make money in a small shop like Thurso and Wick's.
Trouble is if you try to charge ridiculous prices for cheap guitars and such no-one will buy enough of them to give you a good turnover.
I have been buying and selling guitars, amps and effects for years and I have frequently been surprised at the pricing in the two stores.
Treat your customers like idiots and you won't last long, even when the competition is miles away.
Instruments are purchased much better as a hands on deal, people will happily pay an extra 20% for a guitar they can try out and take home today. But they want to have a variety to choose from, not 3 or 4 cheap manafacturers gear being sold at a 50% mark up.
;)
I always found James good to deal with and received my fair share of discounts even with internet comparison.
Lets face it, if you run a business, you are there to make money not struggle to get by.
For whatever reason James pulled the plug, is his business and I personally wish him all the best.
Ewen
i think the music shops were too expensive wick and thurso for their guitars come on nearly £500 for an epiphone les paul is a bit ott when i know some1 who bought an early 70's gibson sg for that and took it home from america for that price and still had money left over.
and if you go in for a certain part if they don't ave it they say it doesn't exist when infact it does and you feel stupid when they say it doesn't exist.
What is more ridiculous is avin to travel 106 miles down to inverness for a £5 packet of strings maybe woolies or whatsists shouls start stocking strings
i always got a shiver down my spine when i walked into that shop ach well what can ya do but wish them all the best.
It has always been known that if you're serious about buying an instrument....................you wouldn't buy it from your local shop.........................a bit of travel would be involved, say to Glasgow where there is a choice of competing companies & the prices are therefor that much lower
As far as local choice of brands, when James took it over suddenly I saw real fenders, a gibson, a premier drumkit & a far better range of sticks & strings, picks & plugs as it where albeit at higher prices OH YEAH & an advert for Parker guitars
& as has already been pointed out by Jeid most of the profits came from CD sales & not instrument sales. The anti christ of musicians & musical media sales is the internet hence the Beautiful South's ad on TV saying "available on CD/download"
personally I was happy buying my strings & picks locally along with the odd pair of sticks when I needed them but would never consider purchasing FX, amps, instruments etc etc locally, because I knew it could be got much cheaper elsewhere
If a new shop is to open then I would support it, but only if it stocked the sticks & strings I like to use. If they were kept in stock I would buy from there & if I was the only person buying these strings & things I would still expect them to be in stock because I'd buy them till they were finished & then keep buying once they had been re-ordered
I don't see why good vibrations don't start stocking strings & things (to generalise) because there is no real market for instruments & amps etc etc because of the internet & the considerably lower prices when one takes the wallet for a trip to the city
The real problem for the small local store (of any description) is mass wholesale internet sales.
Any potential purchase I make I now take to the World Wide Web and find the best deal which tends to be with the sort of business that cuts its profits to the bone, BUT sells in HUGE quantities to make its profits. They also don't have shop staff or premises to pay. I also find the internet so rich when researching a product (download samples, images, previous customer reviews etc). Having said this I will not buy some items like cymbals anymore.
I get most of my electronic musical stuff from Germany!! Still cheaper than most shops in the UK after P&P. I also used to get alot of DVD's and CD's from America though it's now been a while.
I've also have instances where I've gone to a local retailer (who I may add is now out of business) and said I can get the same item (it was a back projector TV) for alot less than their advertised price - would they price match it (as I prefer if I can to buy locally). And they almost scoff at you for making the suggestion. So I don't buy from them, save myself £300 and they eventually go out of business!!
The lesson I think is if you can't beat them, join them. Yes, have a small local outlet selling to the locals, BUT also develop an aggressive internet/Ebay selling presence.
I alway remember being hugely disappointed when I went to London for the first time and visited some of the music shops, that tended to have huge multi-page advertisements in the music magazines, to discover the shop was a wee pocky place down some back allay (and their STILL in business I may add).
Ultimately, you need to compete on a world stage these days commercially. Many of the local shops I'm afraid have yet to learn this lesson. (Shut at lunchtime for an hour!!, shut on a Sunday!! or the first Monday of the month etc!! - You should to be 27/7 these days). The big supermarkets will only add
to this problem.
Just my own views . . . . . !!
I think the perception that James made most of his profit from CD sales is misplaced and I know that the market for musical bits and bobs i.e. strings, beginners musical instruments, etc fairly mounts up.
The majority of people who used the shop to purchase instruments and accessories were beginners or parents who are not going to hack the worldwide web to buy wee Hamish a £60 fiddle etc
Sorry if that offends all the local Rock Gods who inhabit this part of the forum dude! (ever heard somebody with a local accent saying dude, sounds like the Pope trying to sing the Sash - ridiculous)
The CD's that money would be made on were of the Scottish, Country & Western and Irish music nature where there is no direct competition with Woolies and the net.
Ever tried downloading Brendan Shine from Limewire?
I do most of my purchasing on the net and do not expect nor need local shops to survive (although I wish them all the best in what must be a cut throat game).
I personally think that the prices were by no means as OTT as has been suggested and I strongly suspect that James just got bored with it.
you sound slightly heated..........
(ever heard somebody with a local accent saying dude, sounds like the Pope trying to sing the Sash - ridiculous)
i say dude....(hangs head in shame)
I think it would be great to have a music shop which is qualified to carry out repairs on guitars and amps. Too many times have I had repairs done by friends only for the problem to come back within a few months.