ironmongery

[citizensmith]

I am very sad to see the announcement of the end of my local source of doorknobs etc.

http://www.arciron.com/

i will be going today to buy up the remaining things i would have got for projects this year. Is such a shame to see a place go where i could get advice and get real quality fittings. At 30% off some of you might benefit from the loss of another useful restoration supplier.

 

[Penners]

It's always a shame to see a good old business coming to an end. Still, at least it's due to retirement and not another all-too-common business failure.

Thanks for the tip about the discount.

If you have trouble getting your "old" ironmongery in the future, you might like to make a note of these people: http://www.tryrelics.co.uk/

Or (although not cheap): http://www.jim-lawrence.co.uk/



Power to the people! :wink:

 

[citizensmith]

Just got back with 3 doorknobs for the last 3 doors left to do here. I am lucky that we have now done most things that need ironmongery. Had a chat with the owner who said doors shut at Easter and that he had suffered from buyers looking, then sourcing from internet and getting cheaper elswhere. Unfortunately he is left paying for the showroom and being a free advice service. Its the advice based on many years of experience that will be missed. Shame no one else thinks its a viable business to take on, but I can see why .
Thanks for the alternative supplier link - i shall make a note of it.

 

[biffvernon]

I am very sad to see the announcement of the end of my local source of doorknobs etc.
http://www.arciron.com/

Oh, you beat me to it. I was just about to post the same message. The two guys who run it are retiring and have not found anybody to buy the business. It closes on 13th March unless a buyer turns up before then.

I have used them regularly for several years although they are the other side of the country from me. Always helpful and knowledgeable on the phone and post stuff out the same day, they have given me excellent service and have been cheaper than some while only supplying the best products.

The remaining stock is being sold with a 30% discount right now.

 

[citizensmith]

Now gone to 50% off of remaining stock

 

[Moo]

A salutary example of how the internet can be a very mixed blessing indeed.

 

[biffvernon]

What do you mean, Moo?

 

[Moo]

he had suffered from buyers looking, then sourcing from internet and getting cheaper elswhere. Unfortunately he is left paying for the showroom and being a free advice service.

 

[Penners]

Then couldn't it be argued that it wasn't the internet at fault, but this chap's marketing plan?

Dog eat dog, survival of the fittest, on the origin of species... and all that. It's the way the free market works.

 

[AMc]

Dog eat dog, survival of the fittest, on the origin of species... and all that. It's the way the free market works.

Do dogs actually eat dogs? I've only ever seen them barking at each other - and no I don't want any web links.

Any estabished traditional bricks and mortar business who are undercut by internet sales have my sympathy - I wish they were able to take advantage of the opportunity to expand sales instead of being closed down by it. It seems to me that this is something the local govt. business development people should be helping businesses with.

I recently got some Thai made furniture from a shop on Gt. Yarmouth South Quay. It all looked a bit worrying as there didn't seem to be passing trade and it was hard to see how they could be making money, but when I went back to collect my stuff they were processing their eBay shipments and it looked they were moving more stock that way than they could in a week from one shop in Norfolk.

 

[Horace]

I am afraid its the supermarket effect. We are trained to beleive that cheapest is best. Everyone then shops on price alone. Unless you live in a small community where choice and service are valued, people think they are being ripped off just becuase one stock line is being sold at a higher price than it can be found in a DIY shed/ supermarket.

They don't realise that at the independent they can get it in four sizes, three colours and stock is held for all variants. They also don't appreciate that its only in the supermarket/ DIY shed on special offer for a limited period beuase they picked up a job lot and they won't stock it next month.

 

[Penners]

Any estabished traditional bricks and mortar business who are undercut by internet sales have my sympathy - I wish they were able to take advantage of the opportunity to expand sales

But they are. Anyone is. Setting up an internet shop is cheap and easy, these days. You do, of course, have to have the right business plan and the determination to make it succeed - but that's no different from setting up any type of business.

 

[Penners]

We are trained to beleive that cheapest is best.

What an odd assertion! I don't believe that anyone regards the cheapest product as the best product. But if it's all they can afford....

 

[Horace]

Cheapest not cheap (to some extent, but not entirely, I meant comparatively - in absolute terms it could be an expensive item). That is to say, I think people are conditioned into thinking that price is the only important comparison that one needs to make. Not service, not securtiy of supply, nor long term relationship etc etc. Just price. But on the wider point, I think people are fooled in to buying cheap thinking its a bargain but in reality its cheap tat dressed up as something better. As my uncle used to say, poor people can't afford to buy cheap shoes....

 

[AMc]

Any estabished traditional bricks and mortar business who are undercut by internet sales have my sympathy - I wish they were able to take advantage of the opportunity to expand sales

But they are. Anyone is. Setting up an internet shop is cheap and easy, these days. You do, of course, have to have the right business plan and the determination to make it succeed - but that's no different from setting up any type of business.

Perhaps I wasn't clear. To anyone who's been running a regular shop, setting up on eBay etc. is not actually that hard. If you can do a VAT return you can set up an eBay account. In practice many are ill equipped to take the first step and aren't helped to overcome the obstacles.

 

[Horace]

The danger with an internet business is that a lot of people do set up to sell things cheaply without really understanding their long term costs. From a consumer's point of view, you can take advantage of this by buying short term at an uneconomic price. The seller may well go bust but there is no risk as long as you use a credit card. This undermines long term establsihed businesses who do understand their long term costs and will not sell at stupid prices. However, where margins are tight and survival is difficult, an uneconomic short term internet business could put paid to a more long standing one to the detriment of all.

 

[Penners]

But Horace, that problem has always existed. Before the internet came along, it existed in the high street. Today it exists in the high street and on the internet.

So long as commerce has existed/will exist, there have always been, and will always be, people who have the skills to run a business well and people who don't. And the people who don't can sometimes screw things up for the people who do.

The internet is just a different way for this to happen.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I'm with Penners - unreconstructed Thatcherite that he is!

Vote Penners!

 

[Penners]

Thatcherite? W-e-l-l... not really.

Free-marketeer, capitalist... definitely. Maggie didn't invent those things, you know.

 

[Penners]

Vote Penners!

FW, you appear to be suffering from Tourette's Syndrome. You need to get that seen to.