Audio Shop in 'House'

[migliore]

Survey: Have you ever been to an audio shop run out of some guy's house?

What's your opinion on that? I like it - it's more personal, and you usually can get a better deal. However, you usuall have to make appointments, and may have fewer listening rooms or gear to listen to.

I'd love to run a place out of my home, but I don't have the startup capital, nor do I think the market exists in my area!

Rob




Reviews and System

[P-Dub]

Nope, I've never heard of such a thing. And I'd be suspicious. Is that really his house or someone elses.




Paul

There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.

[John Holmes]

I haven't run into anyone that does that however, when I lived in the state of Washington, quite a few "salon or boutique" type stores were by appointment only.

I do not assume that someone trying this from their home to be shady, however it never hurts to be cautious.

This is the era of work from your home and I'm sure overhead is quite low




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Lexman]

I have heard of this concept before, but never seen it in action. The closest thing I have seen is a by appointment, locked door custom installation shop.

The idea has promise, but not sure I would want strangers trapsing through my home.

Lex

[KennyG]

Legacy audio used to sell their speakers this way, the only way you could hear them was at a "dealer's" home...and those were the only dealers they had.
Legacy's idea was simple, the only way you can hear what they sound like in a home is to hear them in that environment. Thus, no showroom floors.

[migliore]

Yeah, the whole strangers in the home idea is wierd. This guy takes out full page ads in stereophile. And its not his main business. He now has a partner that can do weekday appointments in 'house'.

This guy has a serious amount of equipment.. $18k Boulder Amp, $35k Boulder Preamp, $27k Accuphase Monoblocks, $22k Avalon Eidolons, and the list goes on. To be honest, its the most high end of any store I've seen in CO, in 'House' or not.

The real nice thing is, that your store is your listening room, and all your gear comes for dealer cost.

His house looks shady on the outside. In fact, he only puts his business sign out there when he is expecting customers (prolly a damn good idea ). But on the inside its very nice. And in the basement, it really does look and feel like a shop, not like you are invading some guy's home.

I would still like to run a shop. Support some of the brands that I own - no need to buy as much demo equipment, and besides I recommend it I could do evening or weekend demos. I'd just need about $20k, and to somehow pick up product lines. How do you go about getting that kind of reputation w/ manufacturers?

Rob




Reviews and System

[Robbie]

Yea, Ive heard of and seen web pages of folks who run an audio business out of their house. Most require an appointment. I haven't tried it and probibly wouldn't unless I was really serious because I would feel uncomfortable brousing around somebodys house and not buying anything. Maybe it's just me.

Robbie

[Paul McGowan]

Here in Calgary there's a guy who runs a 'build to order' computer store out of a house. he bought a house in the older part of the city and restored it... it's a real classic.. looks awesome.... and all the offices were in different rooms... he does REALY well...
I think this would be an awesome environment to buy audio gear.... you can hear the stuff i na real situation, and the whole environment gives a warm feeling.... makes you comfortable... you can relax as you would at home.... make it very low pressure, appointment "requested" but not necessary... I think that would be an awesome idea....

oh... and Voodoo computers has bought a similar house right next door and working on restoring that at the moment.....




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[Ken McDaniel]

That gives me a great idea, I'm going to start a company that sells audio equipment a la Amway. You just need to give me $5 grand to purchase your way into my system. (This has probably already been done.)




Ken

[Crimson]

Closeby where I live is a dealer who sells out of his house and is by appointment only, and pays his customers airfare if they end up buying a system. I've had thoughts too of doing something similar, but just can't seem to get away from my system long enough to think out the details!




Q.

[Lexman]

Don't think I haven't thought about trying to open a shop. But it's such a limited market it seems in my town. We only have 1 truly high end shop and a couple of custom installers. Of course, we have mass market, which most people it seems, are interested in. Part of that is of course, cost. It's simply more expensive than many people can afford.

But it's an intersting concept for sure, and I suppose if you had the main house seperated from it with locked doors, it could be a workable idea.

Lex





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[Bob]

Check out this site:

http://www.reference-av.com/index.html

I know, it's a website not somebodys house. But, selling over the web is in addition to selling out of their house. These guys use their house as a showroom and their garage must have a million dollar inventory sitting in it. They have more stuff than any store I have visited. I would say from the looks of their house and the neighborhood that they have found a very lucretive and fun way to make ends meet.

[DanB]

There was a post over on one of the other theater forums about Reference-AV.... had a couple posts in there about their excellent service and the customer treatment as being top-notch. Also, for anyone interested, one guy had been quoted a sub 1200.00 price on the new Sony 9000.




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