Local shops and walk in business

[DaveLewis]

I just spent a Saturday morning shopping for a 17" monitor and I've observed a couple of things that I don't quite understand. Maybe some of the members who are in the retail business can enlighten me.

In the Oklahoma City area we have a number of small computer shops and several dealers in used "off lease" equipment. My goal was to visit a number of the small shops and used equipment dealers to see if I could find a nice monitor - new or used. I specifically wanted to look at the monitor and evaluate the quality of the display.

To my surprise I learned that many of the small local shops are pretty much a 10-6, Monday through Friday operation. Even some of the off lease dealers are not open on Saturday morning.

I'm not a marketing genius, but it seems to this tired old man that you can't sell products when you're not open - and if you're not open on Saturday it must mean that you don't care or don't see enough walk in business to justify keeping the lights on.

What's going on here? (And this is where I just don't "get it") I've heard small shops complain that they can't compete with the likes of Best Buy, but when I want to spend my money with them the doors are locked. So on a Saturday morning where do I go? You guessed it - Best Buy. They may not have it stock but at least they're open for business.

I'm ranting a little but somebody needs to back up and reevaluate their business model. As a word of encouragement to somebody out there - open a parts and system shop in Norman Oklahoma, offer good inventory and reasonable prices, and stay open on Saturdays, and you'll get my business.

[bhess]

I hear ya. Personally I never go to the local small shops. I mostly shop on the internet. It is too much of a price difference.

[alondra]

If they only want to be open 40 hrs. overtime or whatever, do like barber shops close on Mon and open Sat. works for me.

[barry glisson]

the 2 busiest days of the week for best buy and comp usa are sat & sun. barry

[Gutter Ball]

Being a small business owner, I could probably understand why they wouldn't want to open more than 40 hours a week. There are LOTS of other things going on before and after the store is open/closed and if it's a mom and pop shop, that's just too much work! It's tough working for what ends up being $0.25/hour after taxes and expenses. :/ But Alondra has a point, they should close Sunday/Mon instead.

[jman01pa]

From my experience working in small shops as a bench tech. Most small shops I know tend to cater to the small to med business owner. While our shop may not have been open on weekends we did set appointments for in home service. Most small shops also dont have the inventory for people to just walk in and compare. We had three systems on display. Low, med and high end. Most people had a dollar amount the wanted to spend or a monthly payment. They were not as particular about what it was made of.

Also you need to give your local shops some support. They may be overpriced to you and me but to your average joe (who dont know how to build their own) they can represent personal service and support. Get that at Walmart. In our disposable society that is becoming a thing of the past. If you dont build systems for others then send them to the local shops.

J