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Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
A shopping centre is suicide for any non-chain shop due to rents and taxes. Seen a couple of guitar shops try the model and fail. A shop in Gloucester Quays, Modern Music in Reading, I think the original Rainbow Music, and Dolphin Music in Newcastle were all in malls IIRC. There is Imported Instruments which seems to have made it work somehow (guessing ground rents in Dundee would be massively lower than the Trafford Centre!),
In terms of affluent areas, Jam Guitars near Clifton in Bristol (with a mix of professionals and wealthy students not getting in to Oxbridge) went under in a couple of years. Oxford Guitar Gallery is another victim. Vintage and Rare Guitars in Bath has moved to a smaller shop, changed ownership and sold off the London store. Seems to tick over nicely now though.
Basically, the model of making money from instruments (as already alluded to in another thread about openning a shop) is to already have a lot of it! The golden era is gone....the internet has openned the market place to make anyone an expert. Say I found an old bike in the garage of a house I bought, I could probably know its worth and history in five clicks of a mouse. I could sell it at its market rate in another five. This ability has disipated expertise across a larger spread, making anyone with even a minor interest in a subject, a temporary expert. I'd sell that bike, bank the money and forget everything I had learnt.
Boards like this are another example of knowledge distribution. We have all learned something from someone here. That means selling a Gibson Les Paul at anything other than a 'lean' price is impossible these days. We all know the current worth. We all know what sells quickly. These are fast times. Shops are anything but fast. They are a hinderance on profit and will make the difference between a successful business and a bankrupt one.
It's up north where we are few and far between with Coda's/Andertons/GAK e.t.c.
Also Harrogate is full of people with too much money and tourists. I am neither of these but I do like a custom shop!
I’m so bored I might as well be listening to Pink Floyd
@Panama_Jack666 - Harrogate might be well off compare with most of the North but it's population isn't that big (75,000) and it's surrounded by nice countryside, not other built up areas. There are not enough people within an hour or so drive to make it viable for a really high end shop.
Other place that might work is somewhere close to the M1 near Sheffield. If it's got good stock, people would travel to get there, and you would have millions of people in Sheffield, Rotherham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby etc that would all be in easy travelling distance. I don't know that area all that well, and if there is any existing competition for that market.
Somewhere near the M4/M5 junction may also be feasible. You would have Bristol on the doorstep, and Gloucester, Bath, Swindon would all be in easy reach. There is not a lot in the South West so you might get people travelling from further afield as well. I grew up in East Devon and we went to Bristol quite regularly. It's not as bad now (you have Mansons and Hartnolls), but I can't recall a Gibson or Fender dealer within an hour's drive as a kid. You would be competing with World Guitars in this part of the world though.
Very true in regards to a small population. However, York and Leeds are very close (30 mins on a train either way, I can make it from Leeds in 20 minutes post gig - my colleagues do it in about 30 mins from the right side of Leeds in rush hour). If the shop built a reputation like CODA or Peach I think it would be the ideal place to pull people in. There's also Knaresborough next door which has a bit of wealth. And it's not too far from the A1/M1.
It'd be worth doing research to see what the population is like around the bigger shops and how much business they actually do online/vs in store sales. I've never been to Stevenage but I do buy from CODA!
There is place for good physical shops. Personally I wouldn't buy a guitar online again. I did it once but ended up not liking it and selling it on. I wouldn't want to add up what I've spent in shops in person.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Birmingham's just too good in terms of links not to consider.
Failing that if you want somewhere geographically central you'd say Meriden or Haltwistle (one for the map readers there folks...)