I just saw this Superfi closed down its Shops and called in the adminstrators https://www.whathifi.com/news/superf...res-nationwide
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I just saw this Superfi closed down its Shops and called in the adminstrators https://www.whathifi.com/news/superf...res-nationwide
That's bad news.
My thoughts exactly Rob, one less option when looking for new HiFi used Superfi quite a bit and their service was first class, not enough profit or overheads on the high street their down fall:doh:
Ive bought a couple of things from the Stockport store. Wandered up from Richer sounds and had a look in :)
If Murrays hi fi had still been going, I wouldnt have really needed any other shop. A sofa, a guy in jeans and a few well chosen items makes the perfect shop for me but he didnt last long...maybe a year.
This again raises questions about buying habits, the economy and the future of hi fi retail.
I wonder how Sevenoaks are doing, their business model isn't a million miles away from that of Superfi, although the latter did seem to have a more pile 'em high approach.
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Bad news indeed, but really I'm not sure that many people buy new from these shops anymore. I bet a lot of those visiting such hifi shops have a browse then look for it cheaper online.Quote:
Originally Posted by ReggieB
Most of the people on here seem to buy mostly secondhand either from each other or off eBay. The rest of the buying public either buy wireless speakers for streaming, or if they've got a bit more money to spend will probably shell out on 'lifestyle' products from the likes of Sonos, as their preference moves towards products which sound ok but look great (to them).
None of which is going to keep the wolves from Superfi's door.
True that I buy a lot of stuff from eBay but usually because it ain't offered anywhere local or is too old to be stocked.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony
I bought a pair of speakers from Superfi a couple of years back (Q Acoustics 2020i) after a store demo in their Nottingham branch ... also got my Quad Vena from them more recently at a discount not offered elsewhere. Also use Richer Sounds a fair bit. Bought a pair of Bluetooth headphones from Currys only yesterday (same price as Amazon)
I do try and buy new stuff (photo and hifi) from UK based companies either in store or online whenever I can and usually get a good enough deal if you hunt .... but also the people who work there could be neighbours :thumbsup:
Used Superfi a few times and always had good service and a good price. Another on bites the dust!:rolleyes:
The one around here went bust years ago. I bought some stuff from them but in general they had a poor selection and didn't seem to keen on wanting to sell it. I went in for some speakers once, 3 young salesmen and an older manager all standing about doing nothing. Only one youth seemed keen and set up some speakers for me to listen to. One of the others made some comment to him along the lines of 'Why are you bothering?'
When I went in to buy an amp some years later, the manager attended to me. He said I had a choice between a Marantz and a Rotel but he wouldn't do a dem as they were 'closing in about an hour.' No other customers in there, staff just milling about.
Shocking service, and that business deserved to fail. I bet a fair few shops would be like that these days though, as the constant stream of 'tyre kickers' has knocked the fight out of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Macca
Apart from a few low cost items bought from Richer Sounds Preston, whose service and attentiveness was second to none considering the value of my purchases, I haven't set foot in a hifi shop for several years. Last place was Doug Brady at Warrington, accompanying my bother who was buying a headphone amp. I just asked a couple of questions about other stuff, and they were so helpful and pleasant, I felt a bit guilty about not buying anything!
The 'built in obsolescence' that afflicts so many consumer goods these days doesn't seem to apply to quality hifi, and most decent stuff can be repaired either by folk on this forum or by someone they know, so usually it's only the mass produced tat sold by the likes of Currys that ends up as landfill. For a business to make or sell something that may not need replacing for decades, that can't be good for them.
I actually bought something both times but only because I needed the item right away and was too busy to go elsewhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony
A good salesman - a proper salesman - makes sales to the tyre kickers too. 'A man does not walk onto the lot unless he wants to buy.'
Oh yes, said man does want to buy, but he wants it at the cheaper online price. After he's seen/heard what it's like. A proper salesman could probably persuade this man to buy from him instead, but that proper salesman probably works somewhere else, selling something else, where decent money can be made. Leaving vacancies for the lazy and indifferent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Macca
not sure if ive used them. might have got some q acoustics there once
I bought quite a few things from them over the years. When I first started out they were a good alternative to Richer Sounds. In Birmingham the shops were within a couple of hundred yards of each other and a visit to Brum shopping always included a trip to both. More recently its bin odd bits and pieces on their web site. Cheap headphones for work and that sort of thing, and a year or so ago I went to the Leeds branch to hear some KEF bluetooth speakers which I was thinking of using as a "working from home solution" .... until I heard them. I never had a problem with Superfi's service. I wouldn't call it brilliant, but perfectly good.
That'll help thin things out a bit and leave more room for the specialists.
That's a bit harsh, mate.Quote:
Originally Posted by Macca
I did 25 years in retail and have seen first-hand how the overall business has changed, been through three redundancies and enjoyed massive successes in smaller, independent traders.
I think in this case, what they've experienced is what's happening in book shops right now : they go in-store to browse and make their choices before ordering and buying online afterwards.
It's a phenomenon known as "showrooming", with people often taking photos of the things they want to buy while still in-store, in front of the staff asking them not to in some cases.
The exact thing started happening in the wet-suit industry a decade or so ago and many surf shops now charge people to try on in an effort to combat it.
I've got nothing against online as we live in a market economy and I buy online myself all the time, but this practise is despicable and only serves to show how utterly ignorant large swathes of the general public are if they can't see anything wrong in it.
But that was the first lesson I learnt in retail, of course ..
i like to give local businesses the business if i can, and wouldnt do that. i might see something in a shop, be nonplussed by their lack of service(currys are you listening) and go and buy elsewhere tho.
I dont think they really do go away and buy online when related to Superfi. Would you? Maybe they have been attracting the tyre kickers who would do that anyway...if they had Rega... Linn... Naim on the door they would attract decent customers with moral standards :D
Its more a direct competition with the internet where I can buy Grados and interconnect leads without going near a high street store...and yes I will take a punt based on reviews and forums rather than demonstrations. Not with everything but enough stuff to worry the high street
I think its also more to do with a declining market and increasing rent for floorspace. Superfi tended towards a pile it high and too much on the shelves for my liking.
I walked in for a NAD and they sold me a Marantz PM7200 and 7300 player at a very attractive sale price. It was a bit rushed...I got a quick dem and the price was a no brainer. Nothing too special but I still have that equipment many years later and its still working well. They also crimped some airlocks on biwire silver anniverary for me (although I would rather they asked why I was spending £110 on biwire cables given the rest of my equipment!)
Ive met good salesman and bad salesman but I dont want too much out of them anyway in most stores.
As I keep saying my ideal Hi fi shop would have one owner as the saleman. He would have a Brio knocking about somewhere, a pair of Royds and we would be away. I want the hi fi shop to have a strong identity and ethos. Thats what Im actually paying for.......experience with hi fi reps and a no hassle purchase. A lifelong and developing relationship with them like having shoes hand made.
I would have gone to Murrays Hifi for the rest of my life....maybe bobbing into Richer Sounds for the odd bits and bobs he couldnt do :)
I dont like too much choice...nobody really does...there Ive said it.
The trouble is that the local smaller operations closed down leaving me with the Superfis and Sevenoaks of this world...now they are closing....I will never shop in Currys again though
Currys are good for browsing their tellys, before going to Richers to buy :D
Have Currys started offering a 5 year guarantee yet? I think they compete on price alone when I've checked the prices online but it's the guarantee that always swung it. Plus the fact I've bought things new there which turned out to be open box and used, and everyone knows about the extended guarantee/breakage insurance scam.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony
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There is an issue here but it's not fair to blame the consumer. I've got a hefty mortgage to pay, bills, childcare costs, commute etc before I can treat the family to nice things and the odd holiday, and I owe it to them to spend as little as possible when I buy things. If it was just to subsidise the shop rent and staff pay in return for customer service and a bit of decency on my part, the difference wouldn't be so great and I could afford to do it. However the price difference is so big due to ridiculous high street business rates compared to out of town warehouses, and the fact that online retailers can build a business model around transferring profits to low tax jurisdictions via inter company loans. The first problem is in the hands of our government. The second requires international co-operation. Sadly there are too many fingers in too many pies to get the latter issue sorted, and similarly, to a lesser extent, the former. If they did, we could get our high streets thriving again.Quote:
Originally Posted by rigger67
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lawrence001
4K TVs at Richer Sounds come with 6 year guarantee, though even if their guarantees didn't match Currys, I'd still buy from them as I'm prepared to pay a little more when dealing with people I like/trust. And no, I have no affiliation with Richer Sounds. I just think good customer relations should be rewarded.
You're right it is a bit. And I've never worked in retail sales either before or after the internet. Even so there must be strategies you can develop that will put them off buying on line. We used to tell scare stories to put the punters off going to the (much cheaper) competition. Not outright lies of course but you plant the idea in their heads and let it take form on its own. I mean you can't show any mercy in sales.Quote:
Originally Posted by rigger67
LOL, I remember once trying to be sold an extended three year warranty that wasn't really what it appeared to be due to the fact that you already had one year statutory rights. You still only got three years cover not four. This apparent extended warranty was almost as expensive as the item.
There's a very easy way to get folk to buy from you. Give them what they want. Offer them a discount to buy your items. I know of someone here on this forum who does just that. He doesn't have to but he does. If you don't satisfy the customer then you have to be prepared for them to walk.
It's surprising how many companies, not just retail, that seem perfectly happy to let customers walk, I can recall several occasions when I have told a salesperson their product is cheaper elsewhere, only to be told to go and buy it elsewhere, I'm more than happy to do so.Quote:
Originally Posted by Haselsh1
There are also people who seem to like to pay as much as possible for everything they buy as they don't want to appear to be cheapskates, I know somebody who bought a brand new car from a main dealer further away than another main dealer because the closer one was offering a discount, their logic being that the cheaper car "must have something wrong with it"
Agreed.Quote:
Originally Posted by rigger67
This is true, I have seen it many times. One idiot once on a busy Saturday, tried to do this, he demanded I demo a Toshiba TV, I told him no. He said I am entitled you are selling for Toshiba, what if I buy it elsewhere. I said no, I sell for my employer. I refused despite his arrogance, and incresingly rude words. By that point I had my other sales colleagues behind me and and this scum left along with his mates, they slow clapped there departure.
I have no respect for those who use others, waste their time and go elsewhere and buy the same thing for a bit less. A workman is worth his wage and it is dishonourable to do this. Of course I speak of good people who work hard, lazy, arrogant shop owners and staff don't deserve to survive.
been using the superfi store in brum for many years . always very friendly staff there . one chap was extremely highly trained in music and i am surprised he was there . he was very helpful . sad to see them go
there are still a number of hi fi shops there in brum , one will be at bristol show , one not more than a mile from superfi has a turnover of many thousands and a shop front and been successful for many years . wonder what they did that superfi did not do ?
Well I’ve managed two years now, so maybe I’m doing something right... :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Minstrel SE
The problem is, when a retailer fills his store with products that are available in virtually every other hifi store, and also everywhere on the internet, you’re already up against it. Chasing the discount sales against online companies - including ones much bigger than yourself, is a dangerous game. Go in big, do it properly, or don’t do it at all. Trying to get a bit of someone else’s pie is just a half hearted lunge, so to speak.
A sad day indeed, when Superfi first opened its doors in Nottingham, I remember their very first radio ad, on a station I later joined.
Part of it, using a very famous Canadian voice over called Bill Mitchell said ‘Superfi...the place to buy...Hifi’.
I had made friends with quite a number of their employees over the years too.
Did you know that they are owned by Nottingham Hifi on Alfreton Rd in Nottingham?
congrats on that , some superb products there like heco and moonQuote:
Originally Posted by the little audio company
Interesting points.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spectral Morn
I'm currently pricing up a new bathroom and our local, independent bathroom showroom has been round, measured up and drawn up a design for us (there was a refundable charge) problem is I can get the bathroom suite, tiles, shower panels etc almost £1000 cheaper online.
I've called him to explain the situation but I can't see him knocking 25% off and is it fair to expect him to?
I really want to buy from the local guy but £1000 is a lot of money to lose on a principle.
If it is exactly the same products, not look-a-likes of possibly inferior quality, then I would explain and ask if they can offer a better price. I would not expect a price match. If you have paid for the design process and call out, I assume, then the bathroom supplier is getting paid for that service, thus not loosing out on that aspect. If they are not being paid, but you are using their design work then pay them for what that is worth, which would be fair.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaz
The problem in audio retailing is there are no system designing charge, no charge for demo room use etc so the retailer often finds his/her/their facilities used, knowledge exploited and the item is bought elsewhere, so someone who only sells and posts benefits. That is not fair, to my mind.
I recently kitted out two home offices - mine and my wife's - with electrically-powered variable height desks, ergonomic chairs, desk, swing-arm laptop holders etc. Had been almost 20 years since I'd had a new office chair and it showed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaz
We spent over two hours at the place playing with chairs and desks and deciding exactly what we wanted and how we wanted it, trying stuff for comfort.
Could easily have saved 25 percent on top of the discount negotiated in the shop by going online - although it's quality branded stuff it's available on Amazon - not £1,000 more like £600-£700 - but the fact is, without the time spent trying out at a showroom full of expensive inventory, we wouldn't have had a clue what to buy, also the price included assembly and setup by people who knew all the quirks of this stuff and who could set it up to perfection. I had no qualms about paying the extra.
Your bathroom guy will have been figuring in the margin for the supplies as part of the overall profit for the job. It may not be worth his while doing it for significantly less - it's part of the overall offer. If you like his approach then consider the total price for the job rather than a job + supplies. If it's fair overall, then you should regard it as such and not salami-slice it. I would certainly ask for a discount but there's no way I would expect a price match.
The online prices are for identical products, same make etc.
The prices from both are supply only fitting is extra.
The local guy has already knocked 20% off his normal prices & he's called back saying all he can do is another 2%.
Much as I'd like to use him I can't justify or afford to spend almost a grand more than I need to, equally I can't expect him to lose money on the deal.
Yeah the cost difference is a difficult thing to ignore. Can't help feeling sorry for your local guy though - he must get this happening to him all the time.
My brother and me have opposing views on local buying v. distance buying - he gets windows and doors about 20% cheaper, But I have a seller I can see personally, and if there's a problem with faulty or missing items I can usually nip round and get replacements. I don't have to communicate by e-mail, then wait for the next "delivery slot" in my area. Tried it his way once, drove me mad, cost me all the money saved in lost time on the job, and inconvenienced the customer a fair bit too. Never again :(
I feel bad for him too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony
Really nice, helpful guy and I wish I could afford to say to hell with the extra thousand pounds, if it was a couple of hundred I would have.
I'm a real soft-arse when it comes to things like this. We have this place in Preston called Clifton Bathrooms. I bought a shower screen once as part of a job I was doing, and at least once a month I get catalogues in the post and calls and texts from a very nice lady called Kerry, asking me to keep them in mind for future jobs. It's been three years now, and I still can't bring myself to tell her I've never fitted a bathroom in my life. :(
great pity - i did loads of demos at Superfi in Camden town, London. I did buy a few things from them, although most was online.
But yes, there are online offers which can undercut the RRP. the problem is also for the industry , since if you don't audition something, more chance you will give it back.