The Little World

I made a visit to my local hobby shop – Hobbytech – this week to make sure I had enough supplies to carry on through the holiday break. The drive there was hell, the parking was hell, and the drive home was hell, but the time spent in the shop was delightful. And I observed an interesting phenomenon…

I’m used to retail work leading up to Christmas from my time in the camera shops. I served in my student years and then after my first retirement. The trade up to Christmas was like a rising swell of orchestra music, with a crescendo on Christmas Eve. In some cases the week trading up to the day was actually frantic – leading to a great sense of deflation as soon as the doors closed at the end of the 24th. The camera shops were busy all day.

Well, today I went into the camera shop I write for and observed the sedate pace and the wide spaces between customers. And these weren’t narrow people, either – there just weren’t many of them. I remember when it was wall to wall waiting and credit cards being waved above impatient heads.

In contrast, the hobby shop was crowded. Not Chinese railway station crowded, but you had to negotiate the buyers to get to the thing you wanted. The tills were going steadily and all seemed well.

In both cases the shops are well-located, with parking and access. Goods are attractively set out. Staff are knowledgable. Credit card machines and finance payment schemes are there ready for action. And the goods being sold are fun goods, rather than utility stuff.

But I reckon the difference in the two is because one lot sells fun for $ 4000 and the other sells it for $ 40. The goods may last longer in the first case rather than the second but the fun is equal.

I know which business I’d invest in…