I am openning a shop. What equipment should I sell

Vacume cleaners.

If you want to make real money, stick the the Pyramid Principle. "There are more people with money to spend on the lower end of the price scale, than at the top."

I'm sure you've done some research and know what the surrounding stores offer. Next, BE VISIBLE. Don't rent a store at a cheap rent in an out of the way location. You can not spend enough money on advertising if people don't see you.

Next, offer some high end products to test the waters. There's bigger margins here. If it works, increase the line. Ask the manufacturers to work Co-Op advertising deals with you. Some will. Some won't. But either way, you must convince them why they should.

Lastly, make your war chest has a heavy advertising budget. You need to advertise heavy in the beginning to get your name out. Do quickie 10 second radio spots with programming geared to your target market. If your selling ipods... that is a way different radio station. Figure at least a modest $10,000 in media advertising in the first 6-8 months, minimum, if you want to do it right. Don't take short cuts. Hire quality people. And finally, be honest with your customers and yourself. Good luck! :)

All the high end guys around here are doing HT or custom install to pay the bills. Very little floor space for 2 channel for the guys that still have showrooms. Three of the five stores in my area closed their showrooms and just to custom install now.

Audio Refinement w/o a doubt. Very good performance for the money. I would Also carry some of the mid fi stuff available. Mid fi such as Rotel, Adcom and the like. While they may not be in the same ranage as krell, YBA, AR, and the like they are better then most Mac stuff I have listened to, and they cost far less.

Bang for the buck, keep this in mind and you will suceed, do other wise and you may well fail in your endevour. After all, 5 sales of mid fi a day, to happy customers, beat the heck out of 1 sale a month of hi end.

Food for thought.

Hi Jim,

I always liked your (and other dealer's) approach to sell out of your home: Save the expensive rent and some of the risk having to recover from the first slow months of business. There's a reason I came to you to listen to the Abbys. More relaxed atmosphere, no buying pressure, BYOA (Bring Your Own Amp), etc.

As for a real store front: I would look for a neighborhood where people should be interested in getting into Hifi. Know your customer base. Denver seems great for Hifi these days, but is seems quite competitive. I always thought it would help to not sell the standard equipment. Something that catches a customer's eye when he walks in, i.e. more style than just showing off black boxes with silver faceplates and blue lights: The Abbys should work well there. So far I have not met anyone who is not impressed with them.

Good luck with a store front business if you decide to go that way.

Rene