July/August 2018
ertonline.co.uk
We’re trying to tease young people in with headphones in the window, then show them what better audio performance they can get
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Q: Why have you opened a new London store? Dan Abrams: We’ve had a store in Camden for 20 years, but we were reaching the end of the lease and we were approached by Pret a Manger, who came up with the idea of doing a swap. It seemed like a good idea to make a fresh start – it has slightly better footfall than the old shop. We left the old store in February this year. What we’re trying to do is focus – the old store tended to stock everything from everyone, because, over the years, you become a kleptomaniac. With the new store, we’ve tried to choose brands that aren’t commoditised on the internet. We need people to have a reason to come to the store, so we’re selling higher up the range and trying to make it so that people can’t just come into the shop, Google a product and then buy it from Amazon on their way home.
Q: So which brands have you gone for? Jurek Mucha: Generally, in our other stores, we have up to 50 or 60 brands. In this store, we’ve reduced it to 15 to 16. We’re also not doing rows and rows of speakers, like we do in our northern stores – they’re just big boxes that take up a lot of room and they don’t do anything until you take them into a demonstration room. Downstairs in this store, we’ve tried to create an environment that’s more attractive to a younger audience.
The hi-fi market is deteriorating when it comes to footfall – we need to bring a new younger audience in. One of their favourite things to do is to listen to music.
DA: This is Camden Town – you’ve got a lot of young people passing by… It’s a big area for music and fashion, with Camden Market and the Lock. We’re trying to tease young people in with headphones in the window, then show them what better audio performance they can get.
JM: Downstairs, in the front of the shop, we have headphones from brands such as Bose – we don’t want to look too techie. It’s not just about the products – you’ve got to do the whole thing and change the look and style of the shop. We’ve remodelled our own branding to give it a new look and design to bring us into the 21st century. We’ve got video p-o-s, iPads to browse our website and we’ve also put a play table into the store, which allows customers to interact with the products – it’s plug-and-play and they can stream music from their phones. It’s making it easier for the younger generation – it’s maybe more Apple Store-esque.
DM: The youth of today don’t know what hi-fi is. My son’s 15 – his friends don’t know what we do.
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