The Busman's Holiday

Being on holiday from the shop for a fortnight means I cannot report honestly on new goods received or upcoming events - I'm sure Saul, Howard, and Adam will make a set of notes from which I may draw inspiration from the 10th onwards, provided the place does not burn down in the meantime. For now I must report on other people's shops.

Today I visited two small retailers in Sydney who cater for my hobby - toy cars. One located in a central city street and one in a distant suburb. The city shop had a modest amount of stock and the suburban one had a vast embarrassment of riches. The interesting thing for me was to observe the degree to which they were attended.

Central chap has a basement. You find it by rumour and innuendo. There is a small sign out the front and a modest Google listing but no web page. The suburban dealer has a factory unit in a modern tilt-up and a solid website with lists of what is there.

The suburban one has shelves that reach to the ceiling full of stock - so much that he sometimes loses sight of what is there. He has people ringing up at all times asking for items. He has industry reps calling in the middle of serving. He has a secondhand dealer's licence and takes stock in for re-sale that way. He also has 10 people as customers - me included - to one in the city shop. It was almost like being at home, and when I saw him struggling with MYOB on the computer it WAS like being home. I felt like waiting until it crashed just for the nostalgia...

Lesson for me? Well, I envied him his shelving system and the fact that many of the items he sells come in similar-sized boxes - makes stacking easier. But he still struggled to get it all visible - most items were two-deep and you had to shift the front to see the selection. In his favour, he did not have to unpack the sales item and display it whilst storing the box elsewhere. I also envied him for having a product that does not need to have batteries charged.

Tomorrow I shall get closer to the retail bone - a visit to the camera stores here in Sydney. I'm aware that my profession might make me either a very good customer or a very bad one, but I shall try to be kind and gentle with the staff. At least I intend to comb my hair and wear shoes when I visit them, and I will not be strolling through their shops drinking a slurpee and yelling into a mobile phone. I shall reserve that behaviour for my visit to the Opera House....