Superfi Called In Administrators

[Macca]

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.

.

I actually bought something both times but only because I needed the item right away and was too busy to go elsewhere.

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.'

[Pigmy Pony]

I actually bought something both times but only because I needed the item right away and was too busy to go elsewhere.

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.

[struth]

not sure if ive used them. might have got some q acoustics there once

[ReggieB]

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.

[Haselsh1]

That'll help thin things out a bit and leave more room for the specialists.

[rigger67]

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.'

That's a bit harsh, mate.
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 ..

[struth]

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.

[Minstrel SE]

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

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

[Pigmy Pony]

Currys are good for browsing their tellys, before going to Richers to buy

[Lawrence001]

Currys are good for browsing their tellys, before going to Richers to buy

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.

Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk