Being Successful & Independant

Back in the early 1990s I had a little shop in Frome, Somerset, Vincents of Frome, it was a very old fashioned Jewellery shop, pillars were painted black and the tops were gilded, all our rings were in little old boxes and we sold old jewellery, old silver & good quality second-hand watches such as Rolex, IWC, Breitlings and the like. We wore suits & ties.
The shop was number 1 in the street & was so successful that we took over next door & called it Vincents 2 & sold silver & amber, trophys and lower price point pieces.

No 4 Cheap Street was the other Jeweller in Frome, Charles Hart and he had a totally different image. He appealed to the young & hip (sorry) He employed pretty young staff and there was music playing quietly in
the background. I am not judging you understand, just describing.

Now being so close to each other you might think we were rivals but in fact we worked so well together that between us we had all the jewellery business in the area.

It was odd, there were people that came to us looking for presents for their grandchildren, like a Swatch Watch, now clearly we didn't sell them but Harts did so we suggested they pop 2 doors up, the response was usually along the lines of, "Oh couldn't possibly go there, its too bright & loud" so we told them we would see what we could do and asked then to call back in a couple of days.

We then popped into Harts, who was a stalwart of the Swatch Collectors Club, borrowed a few, called the client back in & let them choose one.

The reverse also happened, Customers would go into Harts, ask for a nice piece of Old Jewellery and when advised to pop 2 doors down were usually told, "Oh No couldn't possibly go there, they are so old fashioned & stuffy", Chris would come down, borrow a few pieces in the right price range & usually make the sale.

I know that a National Jewellery Chain, came to look at Frome as a possible site for one of their outlets, went away as there was simply no gap at their price points, Harts & Vincents were The Jewellers of Frome.

Saturday night I was reminded of this wonderful collaboration, sitting outside our new favourite Watering Hole, The Chequered Flag here in Castle Donington. Its a great Micro Pub & serves Flat Cider as good as I used to drink when I lived in Somerset.

This guy came up to us, wearing a suit, sort of, a bit scruffy but a suit, Saturday night on one of the hottest evening of the year, and started to tell us abut his plans for the empty shop next door to the pub. Apparently he has this idea that will close the Chequered Flag down in a week.

Now the street the Micro Pub is in has two Indian Restaurants, A great Italian Restaurant, A bar/restaurant, A deli & a nice little cafe in it, as well as the best Fish & chip shop in the village so it's a busy little street and on nice evenings its bustles. It bustles due to the range of the competition.

I simply do not understand the idea that to succeed, you have to close down the competition, I work within 50 miles of one of the largest Valuation Companies in the UK, they are my competition, some of the jewellers in Nottingham, my nearest big town along with Derby have their own valuers, there is a semi-independent within 20 miles, I don't want them to close down, the big company has a big advertising budget which I don't and some of their advertising rubs off on me, They have contracts with the Multiples with hundreds of shops, I couldn't cope with that level of work, so I'm happy to let them have that.

I see the same idea on the TV with the American shows where they buy old storage units & unclaimed baggage, they all want to get the competition to over spend & hopefully close down, I'm sorry but that is failing Business 101, competition is good, it spurs me on to offer the different, the better, the quicker. That way I am differentiated from the competition, the same way we were in Frome and my goodness were we successful? you betcha!

Oh and the "idea" that was going to drive The Chequered Flag out of business in a week, Well it was a sort of club, the guy was going to buy the shop outright & then sell "membership" at a £1000 each, Then sell drinks a a lower price, he said £3.00 a pint when decent cider is £3.50 next door so not much cheaper, as soon as he had enough "investors" he takes the money & walks away. What a great "Business Plan", something you could be proud of eh?

Lets keep our family run business going, lets hear it for the small hard working Independants & lets help keep these so called "Businessmen" out of our High Streets.