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Such A Shame.... High Street HiFi Specialists Gone...

G

garysan

pfm Member
10-15 years I spent a lot of time and more money at my local HiFi dealer who was extremely helpful, considerate, trusting and always had to time to listen to my budding-audiophile opinions/crap.

They would lend me various equipment to compare against each other (and my own) over weekends, Bank Holidays, etc. Once I had a couple of £500-£800 CD players to compare, another time I took 3 sets of speakers over the Christmas break to try. Each 'lend' resulted in a purchase and I was always greeted with a smile and made to feel like I was their only/best customer. I wasn't by any means as most of the kit that went through the shop I couldn't begin to afford but my point is the level of professionalism they had.

Sadly the shop closed several years ago - after Sevenoaks opened a shop in the same town (which has now also gone the way of the Dodo).

Last week I wanted to buy some outdoor use/portable headphones and had a frustrating morning ringing round HiFi shops which were further afield along with places like John Lewis, Sevenoaks, etc. I wanted to try two models side by side (Beyer DT1350 & Sennheiser Momentum) but couldn't find anyone that stocked both and nowhere that had either of them on display... They either didn't stock Beyerdynamic or they didn't have the Sennheiser model I was interested in. I ended up finding a pair at a John Lewis store just over an hour away had to drive over there and buy them 'blind'.

Turned out fine as I love them but highlights the state of our HiFi retail industry currently - decimated by people buying online to save a few ££.

I understand that with the way things are now, a lot of people choose pre-owned rather than brand new (myself included in some cases) in order to save some ££ but these shops were closing down long before global financial problems had forced other businesses to close their doors so that's not the problem.

Makes me sad as I used to thoroughly enjoy going in 'The HiFi Company' in Peterborough and chatting to Ian & Matt. Miss you guys.
 
It's very sad when good shops go but never having had the experience of a *really good* one I have to say I can only empathise rather than speak from direct experience I'm afraid.

To be honest I have to say I like the fact I can now research/ask questions online, 'demo' at home and sell on the stuff I don't want to keep relatively easily and I think as a result I now have immeasurably better sound than the days when magazine reviews and high street retailers were my only choices. I also believe as a result I have a far better 'road map' of where to go next and what my choices are if/when I chose to upgrade/change my systems.

Look on the bright side though, many of the remaining good ones are now using the internet and eBay to their advantage and hopefully that'll help them to stay open and continue to flourish :)
 
My local dealer let their hifi showroom demo guy go now and are concentrating on Crestron multi-room style installs. So security, heating AV & Hi-fi all being controlled from a iPads & the like. Most of their (very well off) customers wanting no more than Sonos level kit for 2 channel duties.
 
garysan said:
Makes me sad as I used to thoroughly enjoy going in 'The HiFi Company' in Peterborough and chatting to Ian & Matt. Miss you guys.
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Did you ever go there when they first started out as 'Hi-Fi Consultants' down Whitsed Street.

Run by Steve and Robin Wilcox it was a small but packed shop. Very helpfull and no pressure . Spent many an hour there on a Saturday afternoon. That brings back the memories !

Michael.
 
As a teenager I used to adore visiting Howard Popecks 'Subjective Audio ' in Mornington Crescent , it was an Aladdins cave, ah those were the days!
Keith.
 
Purite Audio said:
As a teenager I used to adore visiting Howard Popecks 'Subjective Audio ' in Mornington Crescent , it was an Aladdins cave, ah those were the days!
Keith.
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Presumably you had to visit a great number of other places before finally achieving Mornington Crescent?
 
Think it depends where in the country you are and the budget your shopping with.... in the Midlands there is a few good shops about, if you have budget in the Linn/Naim region....
Agree that at a more afford level the choice goes quickly...

I'm finding camera shops even worse..... used stock is now nearly all on ebay... with a couple high street chains just holding the high running point and shoot ranges...Plus the popular DSLRs
Example I want a new large camera bag, Lowepro I think, can I find anywhere to see what the larger more expensive models are like..... no chance.... So do I order 2 and use the Distance Selling Act to send one back ? ....at my cost !!
 
9designs said:
Think it depends where in the country you are and the budget your shopping with.... in the Midlands there is a few good shops about, if you have budget in the Linn/Naim region....
Agree that at a more afford level the choice goes quickly...
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On another thread on Here Alan Sircom commented that, historically, hifi has tended to cost about 20% of the cost of a new family car. That's probably around £4-5k in today's money, and yes, Linn/Naim is probably in that bracket.

If you're in the market for budget kit, the cost of demos, and bricks & mortar premises is harder to justify on normal retail margins, let alone if you have to compete against the internet box-shifters on price. So I'm not really surprised the lower end of the market has been conceded to the web sellers, except for the entry-level products carried by hifi dealers in an attempt to offer something of a decent spread of prices.
 
I quite like how things are changing. My last two bits of kit were built by PFMr's (misterc6- Naim mono 110s and Arkless Modded 640p) I also like these new style independent dealers with lots of second hand kit like Simon in Stockton. 'Turntable world' it certainly is!

I also welcome the blurring of the pro/home boundaries and the growth of the internet. A good example of this is the hi fi bargain of the year, the FiiO dac recommended to me here and bought over the web for less than £30! The person I was 10 years ago would have walked into some posh shop and walked out with the Naim equivalent- for about a grand.

I don't miss those 'aspirational' grey slip ons and coffee table Hi-fi dealers one bit. Frankly I'd be surprised if there are any left in a couple of years unless they are mainly selling tellys.
 
MVV said:
I quite like how things are changing. My last two bits of kit were built by PFMr's (misterc6- Naim mono 110s and Arkless Modded 640p) I also like these new style independent dealers with lots of second hand kit like Simon in Stockton. 'Turntable world' it certainly is!

I also welcome the blurring of the pro/home boundaries and the growth of the internet. A good example of this is the hi fi bargain of the year, the FiiO dac recommended to me here and bought over the web for less than £30! The person I was 10 years ago would have walked into some posh shop and walked out with the Naim equivalent- for about a grand.

I don't miss those 'aspirational' grey slip ons and coffee table Hi-fi dealers one bit. Frankly I'd be surprised if there are any left in a couple of years unless they are mainly selling tellys.
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What a blinkered attitude. Without local dealers selling manufacturers products where do you think your beloved second hand items are going to come from in the future? If no one buys new there will be no progress and nothing second hand to buy because there will be no Hifi industry.
The loss of local dealers and competition between them is really sad. The internet may have perceived benefits in the short term but in the long run I think we will all be worse off as it just plays to the money not the service.
I do not believe manufacturers selling direct can possibly be the future for such subjective product.
Dealers going out of business is bad news for all of us who enjoy this hobby.
 
Well that's me told! I loved the 'hurumphing' that was particularly good. My turntable and cartridge were new- from the aforesaid excellent dealer.I also consider the two bits built here to be new because other than the cases they are. Also you would have to pretty tight to buy a FiiO SH, it would be about £7.00! However I was thinking about this and realise that PFM has almost become my hi fi dealer I get a lot of advice here and most of my kit. As I said I rather like how it is changing and hope it continues. Steve- do you wear slip ons? I've never considered them myself but I am a bit blinkered that way.
 
Sad indeed, "Sounds Expensive" in Rugby was my original hi-fi haunt and they were always great to deal with but sadly vanished a while back, I think Nick went on to do something else. :-(
 
I have two fairly local high street dealers in North London - Bartetts and Superfi.

Both are very mainstream and stock what I would call 'What hi-fi' brands. I don't think they would be of much interest to the vast majority on PFM. But they seem to do enough business to stay open!

Bottom line is I don't think you can be a "hi-fi dealer" and a "specialist" at the same time on the High Street nowadays.

I went into Superfi once a few years ago and it felt like I was talking to a second-hand car dealer to be honest, so I never went back!
 
I have had a few experiences with RicherSounds and found the service to be knowledgable and friendly. When I last looked they were doing very well and winning awards for customer service. At the Linn / Naim price range I know two very good dealerships less than a hour's drive away. There is a local dealer but I don't get on with the manager. My feeling is that as with bookshops and record shops you have to be very good to survive in a world with the Internet retailers and auction/used sales sites.

Nic P
 
Purite Audio said:
As a teenager I used to adore visiting Howard Popecks 'Subjective Audio ' in Mornington Crescent , it was an Aladdins cave, ah those were the days!
Keith.
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same here. i used to love in kentish town and SA was a few minutes walk!

ah, the good old days, heh! :)

enjoy
ken
 
Rebuke accepted.
Sorry to disappoint though, always lace ups. Leather brogues or steel capped DMs usually and first thing in the morning that can be quite an effort.
It is you who is stretching the elastic somewhat to argue that your 110s and 640P are new:) but I do apologise for my earlier comment it was meant in a general sense not personal. I have edited it.
Grey shoes anyone!
 
steve watkins said:
Rebuke accepted.
Sorry to disappoint though, always lace ups. Leather brogues or steel capped DMs usually and first thing in the morning that can be quite an effort.
It is you who is stretching the elastic somewhat to argue that your 110s and 640P are new:) but I do apologise for my earlier comment it was meant in a general sense not personal. I have edited it.
Grey shoes anyone!
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Brogues and DMs? Top man, I have completely misjudged you:)
 
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