Boombox Store?

[Pointdexter1906]

So, I've seen several photos either on this site or simply on the web in general where someone has literally 50 - 100+ boomboxes stacked on top of one another in a basement or storage garage. Question is this - from a retail perspective, can you imagine how much you could make off of that inventory??? Yeah, yeah, I know - most do it for the love of the culture. (Most... ) But I wonder how feasible it would be to launch a store?

 

[Retro Addict]

In my honest opinion, no it wouldn't be feasible to launch a ghetto blaster store. There just isn't enough of these ghetto blasters around to support a business that has to pay wages/rent/bills etc. These pictures you mention, with 100+ ghetto blasters displayed, represents many years of searching and many hours of resoration to return them to a good visual state. A proper company looking to trade in these ghetto blasters would have to find this number, if not more, each month or so I reckon, depending on buyer demand. Otherwise it would go under. There just isn't enough good, cheap, ghetto blasters available to support such a business.

From another point of view, it depends where your business is based. If you live in an area where living costs are relatively low, it may be feasible to sell these ghetto blasters with a view to making a profit. It also depends on who buys them, and what they're willing to pay.

But generally, there's got to be a time in the not-too-distant future when these ghetto blasters become so rare that they cannot even be found anywhere, let alone be found in quantities that would justify running a store that relies on sales to survive.

 

[Pointdexter1906]

Good pointsm retro. I was looking at some of these photos and thought, wow, at an average of about $200 give or take a piece, some of these guys are sitting on a gold mine! But again, for many it is a labor of love...

 

[Boom Shaka Laka]

Boomers hold their value better than money, so it makes sense not to cash them in unless income is an issue or the money is re-invested. I've sold some of my "stuff" over the years, and what always happens is that I fritter away the money I make, and then I'm left without the cash and without the stuff.

There just aren't enough vintage boomers in circulation or customers for them to make a store for them viable. Turbo Sonic tried it in Tokyo for years and is now mainly a pet accessories store. Check out rpm1200 (from S2G)'s Flickr photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36663676@N ... 593085614/ He says that the boomboxes that are still there are only for rental. http://charmwags.com/

 

[Boom Shaka Laka]

Here's the link to rpm1200's post on S2G (you gotta sign in)...
http://stereo2go.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f ... #199104955

 

[Jovie]

...all the more reason why companies should start making them again.In another post,someone found out Lasonic were working on the i931 project only and that everything else was just R.&D. at this point.Its frustrating how they see the overall public acceptance of this model but balk at going ahead and giving us other models with more power.What will it take to convince them that this is not just a trend or fad that will eventually go away?

You make a good point, Boom Shaka,about the difficulty Turbosonic had causing them to go rental only and diversify.Remembering Arkay's adventures in the orient with shopping the wholesale district in Hong Kong,you'd think Turbosonic could have sourced from those wholesalers.I figure there are alot more surviving classics over in the orient for sure.Even so,Turbosonic still couldn't make it work.This only under scores your point about viability.We don't even have the advantage of wholesale collection points.

 

[Pointdexter1906]

Wow, I never saw that photostream of the store in Japan -- I would have gone crazy had I been there!

What's kind of funny about this - and I may have mentioned on another post that I am a writer by trade (though you'd never know from my typos... ) and have followed/written about the fact that it seems as though everyone wants to go back to the 80s. I go to Wal-Fart --- I mean, Wal-Mart, and Target and all I see are cassette-themed t-shirts, boombox t-shirts, Blondie, Run-DMC, vintage Pac-Man and Atari-themed t-shirts; Adidas shell-toes made a huge comeback, etc... it would seem that the logical retail follow-up to this tide of sentimentalism would be to create authentic, full-powered, large boomboxes. JVC could do a marketing tie-in w/LL Cool J (I'm sure both could benefit from that relationship); others could do similarly themed tie-ins and joint ventures with new- and old school Hip Hop figures. (2012 is the 30th anniversary of Afrika bambatta's "Planet Rock"!!!)

@ Boom Shaka -- agree 100%! I think of the many 12" singles I sold over the years (most painfully, Malcolm Mclaren's "D'Ya Like Scratchin'" which I only recently, and miraculously, re-acquired ) Where is that money now???

 

[MasterBlaster84]

Great thought PD but everyone is right, there just aren't enough readily available boomers for a store. That's part of what will keep them serious collectables.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

I have to agree, I think the rarity would limit such a business.

I also think that in time you really won't be able to find them in the wild. Much like classic cars, there will be "Barn Finds" for a while, but then they will all be in the hands of collectors and then the prices will really go up.

For me, I just want what I love and it has nothing to do with making money. I don't resell.

 

[reptoid]

 

[jaetee]

Good pointsm retro. I was looking at some of these photos and thought, wow, at an average of about $200 give or take a piece, some of these guys are sitting on a gold mine! But again, for many it is a labor of love...

Yea, but as soon as you start thinking in terms of goldmines.... the bottom will fall out of the market and you end up with a lead mine.

GREAT PHOTO REPTOID!!!! I want to go to that store! Where's my Delorean with the flux capacitor!!

 

[MasterBlaster84]

GREAT PHOTO REPTOID!!!! I want to go to that store! Where's my Delorean with the flux capacitor!!

If we actually walked up on a store like that where the hell would we start? I picture myself standing there dumbfounded and drooling, maybe even mumbling incoherently.

 

[reptoid]

you guys may have seen these before, but they are relevant to this thread.
from pocketcalculatorshow.com