Music Shop

DonovanB

How tough do you reckon it is to run a music shop? There is one for sale in Durban...

Guy-Onraet

How much do they want for it?

DonovanB

I call Shotgun....

R60k. with stock. Going to look tomorrow. I have some research to do...

Sean

... R60k ??? Either VERY little stock, or a little bit more of not so good stock ?

Ray

Whatever. You must buy it then we will all buy stuff from you very cheap, ne?

CDee

DonovanB wrote How tough do you reckon it is to run a music shop? There is one for sale in Durban...

How much retail experience do you have? Running a shop is easy, running a profitable shop is much harder. Any retail stores biggest problem is cashflow. You need a big amount of cash to be able to get enough stock on hand to keep every sort of customer happy. Then you also need a wad of cash on hand to pay for big orders that come in. Suppliers these days hardly give any sort of credit anymore, cash is king.

But if you can make it work it's a very fulfulling and profitable investment. But for R60K you'd probably be better off starting your own business or getting a franchise/branch of some sort.

aubs1

DonovanB wrote I call Shotgun....

R60k. with stock. Going to look tomorrow. I have some research to do...

R60K???? with stock.......Donovan, I would do some SERIOUS research!

Banditman

Donovan I think I'd side with the rest on this one. You're likely to be buying all the old tat & unsold SX or Sh!tmuller electrics. A local store closed down here, selling most stuff off at half-price. There were some gems (I bought a Boss TU-2 in the box unused for R600), and there were a few decent R3000 bracket accoustics plus a couple of 5K Deans, and a few Marshall MGs which were great for starters at the price they marked them to.

Bottom line though? Most of the stuff was pub wall decor quality.

You're better off floating your own boat and building you own reputation, rather than trying to resurrect theirs while carrying gear no-one wants.

WantzChas

I shotgun a holiday and weekend job. Please, please, please. And unlimited access to Mesa amps and MusicMan guitars. Then you wouldn't have to pay me.

AlanRatcliffe

60K gets you nothing. Probably just what they couldn't clear. At most 100K's worth of stock at retail prices, which doesn't go far. Possibly with encumberances.

I've run a store and CDee is right in that it takes a lot more cash than that to float a store. Consider the bare minimum that you would stock, add it all together, subtract 40% (trade discount) and you have an idea of capital tied up in stock. Work out your overheads (rent, water, lights, salaries, overdraft, etc.), triple it for your safety buffer and don't forget your deposits on rent, and amenities. Is rental transferrable or will you have to negotiate with the landlord? You'll need shopfitting too.

Bad time to get into retail - even the big boys are hurting at the moment. Plus you'll be working retail - 6+ days a week, loooong hours in December.

DonovanB

Not to worry. It was very very small, very rubbish and cheap stock and not worth much of my time at all.

TomCat

Good to hear.....Also the store may not have a good reputation....more than likely seeing that it was being sold...you would end up spending a lot of your hard earned cash and more importantly precious time trying to rebuild a bad reputation from scratch.....not worth the effort.

Danny-B

Just outta interest's sake, which store was it?

DonovanB

Danny it was called Wilson's Music.

I feel bad for the guy cos it is dead. He has Cash crusaders type stock and normal strings. The shop is TIIIINYYYY, like a cupboard, based in Wilson's wharf.

his strings were cheap though. I might help him clear some of that stock.