Opening a record shop

[bass_culture]

Easy all,

Wanted to ask for advice from peeps on here about a business idea I've been thinking about for a while.

I'm interested in starting a new record shop in Leicester which will specialise in what I will losely term "UK bass music". I would also consider stocking a decent range of reggae/uk roots, as it is probably Leicester's strongest music scene. My plan would be to start with a small unit with a few listening booths and an emphasis on high stock levels, keeping as up to date as possible in terms of releases. I want to create a place which doesn't just assume what people want, but responds to changing tastes in the bass music world. I want it to be a friendly shop which people feel comfortable in, hopefully developing a nice little community of regular customers, but yet always on the look out for new ones.

Leicester is currently served by two record shops which stock dance music, one which has it merely as a sideline, and the other which seems to have a bit of a limited budget and doesn't really keep up to date that well. This makes me believe that there is definitely space for a new shop in town.

I am of course wary that this is an industry which has seen much decline in recent years. Leicester town centre has lost at least 5 independent record shops within the last ten years, not including shops like Virgin, MVC and probably soon HMV.

I am a passionate record buyer and dj but in all honesty I do lack business skills, however I do believe that I have a critical eye, and a good awareness of what makes a great record shop and a sound business.

I would really appreciate people's thoughts on this. Please don't just write "don't do it!" - If not why not, please be as honest as you can, don't spare my feelings.

I have a lot of other ideas which I haven't really gone in to, but might well do in the course of this thread.

Peace

[oski]

near me a record shop opened up last january.. it's closed already

[LA_Boxers]

I know alot of people do like going to actual stores and listening to music, but why are people more likely to spend their money in your store than online at one of the big stores like Surus, Redeye etc?? Will you be able to have competitive prices, and still cover your costs? Obviously the trend is stores are closing rather than opening. As you have stated, Leicester has already lost several. Vinyl is already expensive when people are buying online, will people pay an extra £1 or 2 to be able to buy in person?

As much of a lovely dream as it might be, I personally dont think it is a viable business venture.

[noam]

^^^
good points

[bass_culture]

Vinyl is already expensive when people are buying online, will people pay an extra £1 or 2 to be able to buy in person?

I think that as long as you have what customers want there and then, or at least can offer them a good selection of stuff that they might not know about but would almost certainly like, you have a pretty good chance of making sales. I always find its much harder to resist a tune you love once you've held the record in your hands and have put it on the turntable in the record shop!

If you carry too little stock and all you are doing is ordering people records all of the time, customers aren't going to bother coming back and will just order online.

[bass_culture]

near me a record shop opened up last january.. it's closed already

What was the shop like in staying up to date/getting in new releases each week?

[hayze99]

I think you've already answered your question a bit. The thing is, the fundamental business model that a record shop operates under is unmanageable in this day and age. The assent of record sales is largely due to online record shops; they can afford to do it, because they're catering to a big enough market despite it being a massive niche. You're going to be selling a highly diversified product, to a tiny little market.

In a bad scenario, you're going to end up with tons of left over stock that you can't sell, which you then can possibly shift off to Discogs for a marginal profit, and it's quickly going to snowball into something that's barely breaking even and sucking up all your time. There's not going to be enough capital to keep up with the latest releases, and people are going to want a bigger selection.

Since I moved away from London, I don't go to record shops in my new town, simply because none of them have the selection I want. They don't have 100 of the newest dubstep releases on show, so I buy online.

Aside from BM and Sister Ray's, I went to Phonica in London quite a bit, which is pretty much the only example of a really sustainable bass music shop in the UK. They're pretty much the biggest in the area, and because of London's population, have a massive market to cater to. They sell all the leftover stock online. They're taking in enough money to keep a massive range of stock, and more importantly, to cushion the blow for all the records that don't get bought.

If you're a big, famous record shop in the middle of one of the most populous cities in the world, without much competition, it's good.
If you're selling online, it's good.
If you're sidelining bass music, and opening up to a bigger market, it's probably still a bit shit.
And even then, you're going into a market where the product WILL become obsolete in a couple years or decades time (I really do think it will trickle out)

The economy is fucked. Multimillion dollar corporations have been unable to sustain physical music shops, and famous record shops with huge, historic pasts are dropping like flies in every city.

I've thought about opening a record shop myself, tons of times, but I think it would be an absolute nightmare.

Sorry to be so pessimistic. Half of me is playing devil's advocate, and half of me thinks it's a terrible idea.

[phrex]

i try to buy in person. the guy gives me always precentage and he's also a good friend and kind of my techno&house 'mentor' as he's been djing all around the world in places like the old tresor, subclub in glasgow and other good places...
it's kind of a record-relation to him. i met him when i first started collecting house and techno... i think this is priceless!

without knowing him i'd be miles away from where i am now, techno/house-technically-speaking.

but yea. prbably not reason enough to open up a shop and get ruined

[Pistonsbeneath]

you need consignment deals on all your stock and thats just not gonna happen with SRD, Cargo etc

unless you have £100,000 surely?

if you want to have everything in stock its gonna be a nightmare

good luck though

[oski]

near me a record shop opened up last january.. it's closed already

What was the shop like in staying up to date/getting in new releases each week?

weekly deliveries.. until near the end when they started not being able to pay on time.
This was in camden but they did charge 8 pound for a record so i understand why people didn't buy from there
They bought very limited numbers of each release, so anything really good went very quickly
They did have a substantial number of records that they never sold

I'm not saying don't do it
just be aware that you may sink a lot of money doing it.

[noam]

there's a load of record shops in manc but the only two really selling new electronic music are Piccadilly Records and Eastern Bloc and Piccadilly Records also sells indie/jazz etc.

their selection of house and techno is okay, Eastern Bloc is mainly DnB and Dubstep

the rest of the shops are second hand/very niche

its a really hard market to get into, getting people to even bother going into the store is one thing

the next is convincing them to actually buy something from you - even if you know all the dj's in your city, you'll have 90% who'll come in and probably turn their nose up at the stock or already have it

i sympathise with the feeling of really wanting to recreate that old record store vibe, but i truly think its going

[__________]

I'm interested in starting a new record shop

but in all honesty I do lack business skills

I'm out.

[Hibbie]

I'm interested in starting a new record shop

but in all honesty I do lack business skills

I'm out.

LOL

Your shop will need a USP!

[bass_culture]

I'm interested in starting a new record shop

but in all honesty I do lack business skills

I'm out.

Your shop will need a USP!

Well I'm a bit of a coffee nerd, so was thinking maybe awesome coffee and some sort of chill out area.... overlooked of course by a set of decks and PA, so I could invite djs to come and play and maybe host some special instore appearances.

[LA_Boxers]

Maybe market it more that way round then. As a coffee shop that also sells records? Maybe a book section too?

[bass_culture]

Maybe market it more that way round then. As a coffee shop that also sells records? Maybe a book section too?

Yes definitely! I'd like it to have a kind of artsy space feel about it without it turning purely into an arts cafe!

[noam]

Maybe market it more that way round then. As a coffee shop that also sells records? Maybe a book section too?

exactly what Eastern Bloc in manc i mentioned before has turned into

they sell fairy cakes and coffee... and vinyl

weird

[LA_Boxers]

Maybe market it more that way round then. As a coffee shop that also sells records? Maybe a book section too?

exactly what Eastern Bloc in manc i mentioned before has turned into

they sell fairy cakes and coffee... and vinyl

weird

Gwarn the fairy cakes!!


Maybe graffiti supplies too? Seen a few stores that have that aswell.

[icanicant]

I could see the Coffee shop / record store thing being a possible goer. Could imagine it being a big hipster place (dunno if there are that many hipsters in Leicester though).

I think as record shop by itself you would struggle. Most people will just buy online. I would argue that you should not emphasize the newer releases. With these, people know what they want and will just go buy it on the internet as it is easier and (probably?) cheaper.
The advantage of a B+M record shop is that people can hunt through records looking and listening for things they have never heard of but really like. That is why i would recommend the stock being mostly focused on older / rarer bass music if possible. People like having tunes in their collection that other people don't and the a record shop is probably one of the best ways to achieve this.

[Pistonsbeneath]

people always gonna spend silly money on high margined coffee and books have amazing margin too

that could work man...i spend £7 on my lunch which is a lot i think every day i work