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.
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.