Good evening folks, after a little advice / personal opinions. I've been self employed now for quite a few years, doing builds, upgrades, repairs etc. There's an IT shop in my village..however he's never open, when he is open hes open from 2pm onwards, hasn't got a clue about new hardware, gaming PC's or laptop repairs. An empty shop has come up for rent, circa £450 a month, I currently work from an office at home, i've been considering it as it'll be a place people can just call in, downside is if I have to do a call out the shop will have to be closed. Are local PC repair shops dead? Should I just continue doing what I'm doing from my office at home. My health took a big hit a few years ago when i got diagnosed with RA, I couldn't have a physical job as my body won't allow it. Any advice appreciated.
I would think its totally dependent on your area, if there's not a lot of pc's to repair the other guy might have the market cornered. You could maybe talk to the people running shops in the area to see if there is a demand, but even a couple decades ago when I was doing it, most people rather have a guy in a van show up instead of un-hooking everything and taking time out to go to a shop.
I wouldn't risk it. Some stuff these days is not repairable and most of it is disposable. Couple that with YouTube and yeah. If you lived somewhere like me with lots of old people in it it may be worth a go, but it's not viable now IMO. I worked at one of the busiest places in South London and we owned amstrad after we bought it from Alan sugar (for spares, so we'd be the only company able to do repairs) and when I phoned him last year he'd turned two of the shops back into flats and just sat in the other one all day doing nothing. We once had a staff of 10, now it's just him sitting there all day.
Is that rent only or does that include business rates, in my experience it's the latter that does you in. Though... Imo - Yes and yes.
Agree with others.. stores are dying. I see it over here. we have 3 types of shops local.. I say local. 2 computer shops, 1 component level store and then you have the online suppliers in Sydney. 1 Local store is never open... well, ive never seen the doors open, lol the other is owned by a mate and he sells more than computers now. He got into quads ( drones), 3d printing and recently electric skateboards. These now account for over half of his shop sales and he has 5 guys in that area and only 1 in the PC side. If its ticking over for you as it is now, I would go mobile and dont have the overheads. Kit out a van and it doesnt matter where you are then.
When It comes to buying hardware, I've never lived within easy reach of a shop that stocks what I want, much easier to go online. For repairs, I've always been able to sort my problems out myself, using online research if I don't already know how to sort a problem. I think this self reliance stems from my never trusting a shop with any of my bikes and from my late Uncle George, who always believed in knowing how to maintain things yourself.
BITD we made our crust from ink. Like, compatible ink for Epsons. Oh and media. We were the cheapest in the UK for blanks. We hardly made much from PCs as you had to compete with Dell and etc. So most of the time I'd build crap celeron pcs all day (13 was my record). Top end gaming pcs? Once a month, if that. We mostly sold high end pre built Maxdata Belinea. Tbh if you're renting I'd rather rent somewhere bigger and use the cash for that. Just use a spare room man.
Another option....my dads unit. He has a unit he does electronic repairs from, keyfobs, dashboards etc. He has an upstairs big enough for a few desks that isn't used at all. I just thought it'd look more professional having a business address, as at the moment I don't want to plaster my home address all over the t'internet. I do few new builds, but a lot of repairs especially laptops.
That'd be better. Just check about if it impacts his rates or insurance etc. They're the killers with running a business.
Aye i'll have a look, the landlord is a really nice old bloke, the type that isn't overly fussed as long as he gets his cut and doesn't have any issues. Frustrating, and mentally exhausting being ill, if my body allowed full time employment somewhere I'd just do it, be a hell of a lot easier. Just trying to earn what I can and provide for the family especially with a baby on the way.
