Record Shop Survey

[Daz wilde]

My mate is thinking of opening a record shop, and wants to do a survey to see if might be worthwhile....... There are no shops in the area in which he is thinking of doing it. Does anyone know if its a profitable business nowadays, or are people tending to use cd's and get the stuff off the net? Can anyone think of some more questions to ask on this survey?

Name
Age
Location
What type of music do you listen to?
Where do you buy your music from?
What type of music do you buy? (cd, vinyl, etc.)
How much do you spend on music in a month?

[ruffers]

Why are there no shops in the area..... just wondering like.

[Daz wilde]

No music shops that is! the area is busy though.

[sirius]

Id ask how regular they would go.......lol.

I dont wanna piss on your mates' bonfire, but round here almost all the shops that sell music have shut. Theres only musiczone and stuff like that, and an occasional obscure rock/indie/punk shop.

A lot have tried in the last few years, but each one has closed through problems with the internet and ebay too. You see, you cant compete with large stores when it comes to well known and even semi well known artists and labels, especially Cd's, but increasingly records too, and if he wanted a 'classics' section, he will find that people will tend to flog stuff on ebay rather than take them in to the shop.

Theres only one relatively new one thats opened up thats stayed open, but its purely HardHouse and white labels etc and sells decks and needles etc, tapes from Maximes and whatever plays hardhouse these days, in other words a close niche. That can be hard to balance the intrest for, and you have to carefull of fads.

Im sure all of on here like rooting through shops when we find them, however for bread and butter punters coming to the shop regularly I think times are ever harder.

So Id ask how often they buy, cos they may buy £100 of gear a month, but only one month a year.......

Sirius

[Daz wilde]

I told him that his only main interest would probably be in Hard House.

[Dj M Jaxx]

Originally Posted by sirius

Theres only one relatively new one thats opened up thats stayed open, but its purely HardHouse and white labels etc and sells decks and needles etc, tapes from Maximes and whatever plays hardhouse these days, in other words a close niche. That can be hard to balance the intrest for, and you have to carefull of fads.

Thats a very good point, when i use to live in selby, a friend of mine had a record shop called "Tune inn records" he use to specialize in Techno. It was around 98 when he opened it, then, techno was quite a big seller at the time. As time moved on though, the NW Yorkshire trends in music started to go more tec-house, and then return to more of a house sound as we enterd the millenium. His internet buisness kept strong, but his shop died on its ass.

One other fact is, if you are in a small village, theses ventures tend not to work as well as say in a larger town, i had another friend who opend a record shop in the same place around 91 called Groovey records, it lasted about a year, and now is a pie shop.....people in smaller towns, either travel to find tunes, or just tend to surf the web for them

hope this helps m8

Jaxxy

[Daz wilde]

Must admit i probably buy a lot of mine off the web, but hey ill design him an ecommerce site so he could sell through that!

[AB45]

Hi M8
I ran a record store for 12 years in Essex. If there is anything you wanna know ill try and help. It is certainly a business that is driven by passion rather than cash. To be honest there isnt as much money in it as there was (hence me getting out of it lol) and you have to be very shrewd with your cash. Internet profile is vital nowadays obviously and to be honest there are many who do it via the net only ( a route i would take if i were to start again). I could go on about this for ages and ages to be honest but i wont, if you want any questions answered give me a shout and ill try and help.

Andy

[Sully]

i buy plenty of new stuff and get 99% of it online - at decent online stores you can listen to all the tracks and get em posted to your gaff next day, and if there not in stock you just order it anyways and you get an email when its in.

i'll only go to a record shop now if i'm in the area doin somet else - wouldnt make a special visit.

good luck to your mate if he go's ahead with it, your doin the right thing checkin where folk buy 1st......

[Daz wilde]

Reet well ill pass all the pro's and con's on too him, an internet site is a must!

If anyone else has any advice it will be much appreciated!!

[cutter]

sell a variety of straws








well not straws but another buisness within the buisness type thing.

i allways dreamed of having a coke whilst havin me hair cut and chooseing my tunes as played by the long haired bloke behind the counter yeah lol the one with acne and the best tune collection around ( i know cut hair and vinyl not a good idea but i am just a feltcher a feltching in london town).

anyway enough i have come and put nothing on the table to share so i bid you farewell.

soz 1 more thing good luck to your mate if he go's ahead

[Daz wilde]

Originally Posted by cutter

sell a variety of straws








well not straws but another buisness within the buisness type thing.

i allways dreamed of having a coke whilst havin me hair cut and chooseing my tunes as played by the long haired bloke behind the counter yeah lol the one with acne and the best tune collection around ( i know cut hair and vinyl not a good idea but i am just a feltcher a feltching in london town).

anyway enough i have come and put nothing on the table to share so i bid you farewell.

soz 1 more thing good luck to your mate if he go's ahead

I get the idea! Cheers for the input!