Mark Krause Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 Anyone remember this shop and can you confirm that it was in Melbourne? 2 2
VanArn Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 Yes, that was the Douglas HI Fi store in Melbourne. 1
Dean Gale Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 Yes that was it , Flinders Street near Elizabeth may be .
Snoopy8 Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 On 03/02/2020 at 7:56 AM, frednork said: I thought Bourke St?? Expand Agree, it was on Bourke St near Hoyts 2
illusion Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 Yes from memory it was next to that smaller Hoyts, just near the corner of Bourke and Russell. The larger Hoyts was a little further up the Bourke St hill and for awhile had the Virgin Megastore next door. 2
Addicted to music Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 Awesome store, use to be blown away by it when I was a kid...... could never afford anything. 1
PositivelyMusicallyGeared Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 On 03/02/2020 at 9:08 AM, Addicted to music said: Awesome store, use to be blown away by it when I was a kid...... could never afford anything. Expand Must be a very good shop, since you never bought anything from there then and could be regarded as a "time waster" by some sales people.
Addicted to music Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 On 03/02/2020 at 9:16 AM, PositivelyMusicallyGeared said: Must be a very good shop, since you never bought anything from there then and could be regarded as a "time waster" by some sales people. Expand And that’s how I was treated, a time waster, especially when I was a kid, hanging around there waiting to get into the Hoyts theatre not far.... all we had was money to see a movie, something to eat......
att23 Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 Just wanna say I love the shop front, the massive reel to reel tape player with VU meters. 1 1
Misternavi Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 On 03/02/2020 at 9:08 AM, Addicted to music said: Awesome store, use to be blown away by it when I was a kid...... could never afford anything. Expand What year was this?!? What did they sell.....or should I ask what didn't they sell?
Addicted to music Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 (edited) On 03/02/2020 at 12:47 PM, misternavi said: What year was this?!? What did they sell.....or should I ask what didn't they sell? Expand Early 80s, must have been 12 -14 when we were kids catching the train during school holidays to CBD so we can see a movie... They we’re into the Japanese gear; Pioneer, Sony, Technics, kenwood, Teac, Akai, etc. they had a range of ghetto blasters.... golden age of HiFi. As kids we were treated like cr@p, all they wanted was us out of the store, so Id never bought anything there. The Store wasn’t doing so well in the late 80s and l remember them closing up at Burke St and the open reel front with the UV meters was moved to Maroondah Hwy near Springvale Rd Ringwood. It wasn’t long that that disappeared too. They were up against Brashs, Billy Guyatt, Warehouse electricals etc and the introduction of JB HiFi. There were many other HiFi stores in the CBD but they come and go, one I remember well was opened up in the JB store that has also moved out side Lonsdale St near the Shaver Shop, they sold Sansui Gear but that didn’t last long and JB occupied the site afterwards. Moral of the issue is, don’t treat kids or anyone like cr@p or time wasters like you want them out, they can be your future customers..... Edited February 3, 2020 by Addicted to music 3 1 1
Mark Krause Posted February 3, 2020 Author Posted February 3, 2020 Very true about being treated as a time waster. It's also true that sales staff shouldn't treat partners as lesser forms as well. My partner now dislikes going to our local because of the condescending nature she was treated. Brick and mortar stores don't have this luxury anymore. Interesting that there is still a Douglas Hi-Fi in WA which has moved to bigger digs, I wonder if there is a connection to the older Melbourne shop? 1
Snoopy8 Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 On 03/02/2020 at 10:59 PM, Mark Krause said: Interesting that there is still a Douglas Hi-Fi in WA which has moved to bigger digs, I wonder if there is a connection to the older Melbourne shop? Expand They bought the Douglas Hi-Fi name a few years after it went bust... 1
PositivelyMusicallyGeared Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 On 03/02/2020 at 11:26 AM, att23 said: Just wanna say I love the shop front, the massive reel to reel tape player with VU meters. Expand So do I! Imagine how boring it would be to have a USB stick up there! 3
Addicted to music Posted February 4, 2020 Posted February 4, 2020 The best store that I’d ever came across was when my cousin took me to Encel in Richmond.... As you walked in the entire range of Nakamichi cassette decks were all on the right as you walked in.... I could never forget the Luxman TT that had a Vacuum platter, they had many demo rooms for such a small shop blew me away when I was around 15-17 Ended buy many items in there, got treated like royalty in there and they spend the time with you... Also lived out at Soundcraftsmen in Kooyong, bought my 1st TT, a Yamaha T2 with an AT75E cart of memory, spent my entire 2yrs wage there constantly upgrading until I hit the DIY scene. 2
audiofeline Posted February 4, 2020 Posted February 4, 2020 (edited) The "Melbourne Memories" topic has a discussion of past hifi stores in Melbourne, and there were quite a number on Douglas HiFi (including someone who worked there, if my memory serves me correctly). Edited July 5, 2020 by audiofeline typo corrected. 1
PositivelyMusicallyGeared Posted February 4, 2020 Posted February 4, 2020 On 03/02/2020 at 8:02 PM, Addicted to music said: Moral of the issue is, don’t treat kids or anyone like cr@p or time wasters like you want them out, they can be your future customers..... Expand I would introduce a boy who was curious enough to come into my shop, if I ran one, to some wonderful music. 1
audiofeline Posted February 4, 2020 Posted February 4, 2020 On 04/02/2020 at 2:14 AM, PositivelyMusicallyGeared said: I would introduce a boy who was curious enough to come into my shop, if I ran one, to some wonderful music. Expand And it would educate him on and introduce him to good quality audio reproduction. And then turn him into a life-long loyal customer and word of mouth marketer in a few years time when he starts to earn an income.
Fletch02 Posted February 4, 2020 Posted February 4, 2020 Encel was always my favorite shop too. Bought my first stereo there in the late 80s as a young adult. Luxman Cd and Amp and Cerwin Vega speakers. A huge event for someone on a low income in the country. I think it was about 4 or 5 weeks wages. That would buy a pretty nice 3 component system now. I still have the amp and family has the speakers. My best mate and I went there every time we went to Melbourne and I bought a few more pieces over the years. I'll never forget the Stax headphones (ear speakers as they like to call them) , listening to someone walk around the room while they were talking on the special CD recording. We were looking in all directions, while nothing was actually happening. The good old days hey.
PositivelyMusicallyGeared Posted February 4, 2020 Posted February 4, 2020 On 04/02/2020 at 6:28 AM, audiofeline said: And it would educate him on and introduce him to good quality audio reproduction. And then turn him into a life-long loyal customer and word of mouth marketer in a few years time when he starts to earn an income. Expand That sounds like a commercial strategy that I wouldn't have. I would merely want to share the pleasure and joy of music that would inspire the boy and help him along on his way for a worthy life. The rest is up to him. I only hope that there would be many a boy (or a girl) like him in the local community.
Igor Nadj Posted February 4, 2020 Posted February 4, 2020 Man stores used to look cool, now everything is glass and concrete, a shame.
Peter_F Posted February 4, 2020 Posted February 4, 2020 On 03/02/2020 at 12:36 PM, woadl said: This was the Perth version in the 80’s Expand I purchased my first turntable there in 1981, Technics SL1800 MKII. 1
audiofeline Posted February 4, 2020 Posted February 4, 2020 On 04/02/2020 at 7:28 AM, PositivelyMusicallyGeared said: That sounds like a commercial strategy that I wouldn't have. I would merely want to share the pleasure and joy of music that would inspire the boy and help him along on his way for a worthy life. The rest is up to him. I only hope that there would be many a boy (or a girl) like him in the local community. Expand A byproduct of good, respectful customer service (including those who are not current buyers) is that customer loyalty develops, which is a good marketing strategy. But the giving of the good, respectful customer service does not need to be sales-focused, and can recognise that some of these customers won't end up being future purchasers. But those will speak highly of the way they have been treated and give the company good word of mouth reputation, which is invaluable. 2
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