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One-up Records


milners

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They could make the upstairs the shop and turn downstairs into a wee venue. Probably not as simple as that, but it would mean Aberdeen has a Drakes-esque venue again, something which is sorely lacking.

Aye, that's what I was talking about. Not sure how it would work but that place is a perfect size for wee acoustic gigs.

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Guest idol_wild
Why is it ridiculous? Small cafe downstairs, listening posts at tables. Seems like a pretty fucking good idea actually...

Probably the very last feasible thing I would ever want to do in a record shop, if I'm honest. I don't need to be in Starbucks to enjoy and discover music. Just a straight up record shop would do nicely.

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Probably the very last feasible thing I would ever want to do in a record shop, if I'm honest. I don't need to be in Starbucks to enjoy and discover music. Just a straight up record shop would do nicely.

Thing is a straight up record shop is not working and there is a lot of straight up record shops struggling now due to downloads so maybe have to think a bit different to try and save the business.

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Probably the very last feasible thing I would ever want to do in a record shop, if I'm honest. I don't need to be in Starbucks to enjoy and discover music. Just a straight up record shop would do nicely.

I don't see why it's that bad an idea. Everybody is obsessed with coffee or smoothies or whatever these days, book shops have had a new lease of life by following this model. Thought I remembered HMV saying they were going to do it a while back but maybe I dreamt it.

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Guest idol_wild
I don't see why it's that bad an idea. Everybody is obsessed with coffee or smoothies or whatever these days, book shops have had a new lease of life by following this model. Thought I remembered HMV saying they were going to do it a while back but maybe I dreamt it.

What would be the benefit?

And would the costs involved in setting up, maintaining, and staffing a coffee shop really be worth it in a place like One Up? No chance. Kilau is less than 100 yards away and would make better coffee than anyone in One Up would be able to make.

A coffee shop in One Up would be the nail in the coffin.

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Guest idol_wild
Thing is a straight up record shop is not working and there is a lot of straight up record shops struggling now due to downloads so maybe have to think a bit different to try and save the business.

So you'd have them outlay even more capital on constructing and staffing a coffee shop?

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What would be the benefit?

And would the costs involved in setting up, maintaining, and staffing a coffee shop really be worth it in a place like One Up? No chance. Kilau is less than 100 yards away and would make better coffee than anyone in One Up would be able to make.

A coffee shop in One Up would be the nail in the coffin.

Well they sell coffee in Ottakers and the like, and Bruce Millers as well, despite there being a couple of Starbucks within a few hundred yards.

Some sort of diversification is key if sales of your primary product are rapidly declining.

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Yeah but it's only really feasibile to add diversification like that when you just start to notice or forsee a decline in sales.

When it's reaced the point where staff are getting laid off, an expenditure like that on the necessary refurb and so on would bankrupt them..

xx

I'm not a businessman but I would guess if things are that bad you have to try something or just accept that you are going to fizzle out.

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Guest idol_wild
Well they sell coffee in Ottakers and the like, and Bruce Millers as well, despite there being a couple of Starbucks within a few hundred yards.

Some sort of diversification is key if sales of your primary product are rapidly declining.

One Up is a small, dedicated independent record shop. It has very little in common with either of the examples you cited. Sure, Bruce Millers is an independently owned shop, but it is a multi-faceted shop, by no means concentrating on one product. Plus, it's considerably larger in terms of floor space.

The installation and running of a coffee unit in One Up is the perfect example of the wrong idea in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Sure, diversify, but this sort of suggestion for One Up, especially after they just paid-off two long-serving members of full-time staff, is a bit misguided in my estimation. I can't see a shred of evidence to convince me it'd work, and I suspect the shop owners drew the same conclusion when they initially considered it.

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One Up is a small, dedicated independent record shop. It has very little in common with either of the examples you cited. Sure, Bruce Millers is an independently owned shop, but it is a multi-faceted shop, by no means concentrating on one product. Plus, it's considerably larger in terms of floor space.

The installation and running of a coffee unit in One Up is the perfect example of the wrong idea in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Sure, diversify, but this sort of suggestion for One Up, especially after they just paid-off two long-serving members of full-time staff, is a bit misguided in my estimation. I can't see a shred of evidence to convince me it'd work, and I suspect the shop owners drew the same conclusion when they initially considered it.

Just a suggestion, somebody already mentioned Avalanche doing something similar in Edinburgh.

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Guest idol_wild

Ah, good old Kev from Avalanche. He once gave me a lecture about how "bands operate as businesses and want to keep every penny for themselves, ignoring record shops because of greed".

He piped down a little after I politely told him I had been stealing my flatmate's food for a week because I couldn't afford to buy food, after playing shows in Europe and then Glastonbury completely wiped me out of any cash. He actually thinks bands make profits.

I then also discovered that one of the albums mentioned in his post that he agreed to sell in the shop, was subject to a 40% cut, which went into his pocket. The label required a 40% cut to cover it's costs, leaving the band with 20% of any profits the album happened to make. I'd like to add that Avalanche, from what I understand, took 40% of each sale full stop. The band only got a cut of any actual profit made. Which was minimal. So in the end, I suspect Avalanche took 4 from each sale of that album, and the band themselves probably got less than a pound. Is that balance correct?

Avalanche in Edinburgh is another classic example of an independent record shop going downhill, and it reeks of desperation - almost directly blaming bands for its downfall. Avalanche and One Up are in the same situation, but at least One Up isn't publically resorting to a blame culture. Every time I have been in Avalanche and have had to talk to Kev, he's tried to give me the same lecture. It's almost has if he has it rehearsed.

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Guest idol_wild
Just a suggestion, somebody already mentioned Avalanche doing something similar in Edinburgh.

Aye, I know - I'm not trying to admonish you or anything, I'm most certainly not in any position to do that. I just feel it'd be a plan that would almost end One Up.

Never seen anyone use the coffee making facilities in the new Avalanche. In fact, the gear didn't even look functional when I was last in. But they perhaps only fire it up for the busier times, which makes sense.

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