Re-Tales #65: Albany, New York dealer Hippo's Gets Hip
With the hi-fi business, arguably, at a critical juncture, keeping it fun is more important than ever. Hi-fi salespeople play a key role in that—they're the boots on the ground. If anyone is going to foster interest and imbue the hobby with fun, it's salespeople.
Re-Tales #66: Introducing Florida's Sound Attic
In some ways, the Sound Attic, a new dealership in Tampa, Florida, seems like a traditional brick-and-mortar hi-fi store. It does what such stores do: It sells a selection of hi-fi gear across a range of prices. But there's more to the story, according to Sound Attic founder/owner Charles Weiner, who Stereophile interviewed by phone and email.
Re-Tales #67: Bart Stephens Creates a New Music Ecosystem
Hi-fi listening bars have expanded far beyond Tokyo, which was their Ground Zero. They can be found in cities from Miami to London, from Brooklyn to Berlin. Recently, in Birmingham, Alabama, Bart Stephens opened High Dive, a listening lounge and restaurant that does things a little differently.
Re-Tales #68: A Wine Event Holds Lessons for the Hi-Fi Industry
In these Amazon days, retail customers need a good reason to enter any brick-and-mortar store. When you can buy anything and everything you want online, you need a reason to get up off the sofa. Especially when spending discretionary money, people want not only good products but good experiences.
Re-Tales #69: High-End Audio Hotspots
Audio Advice, the North Carolina–based hi-fi company, has been busy—and bullish. Recent acquisitions have brought its empire to seven stores. For years, Audio Advice has also hosted a hi-fi and home-theater show.
Re-Tales #7: Clicks'n'mortar
"I'm going to be making as much of a commitment to the brick-and-mortar [dealers] as we can," says Bryston's James Tanner.
In Re-Tales and in Industry Update, I've written about some of the ways the pandemic has accelerated changes in the hi-fi business. Government-mandated safety measures, the absence of audio shows, and a marketplace that was already changing have combined to force companies to get creative about how they reach customers, both to sell products and to provide service.
A few established dealers have closed or are preparing to. Some can no longer afford inventory. Some have just retired. Others, though, report that 2020 was an extraordinarily good year.Re-Tales #70: Is This Heaven? No, It's a Record Store in a Shopping Mall.
Believe it or not, there are still active shopping malls in the US—and at least one, Garden State Plaza in New Jersey, leases to a modern record store, The Sharp Notes. The notion is so retro it's almost quaint.
Re-Tales #71: It's a Musical Life, Steve Davis's 50-Year Career
Steve Davis has been around music and hi-fi for more than 50 years. Across his varied career in the hi-fi biz, he's seen, heard, and played plenty. Longtime Stereophile readers are likely to recognize the name. With partners, Davis founded AXPONA, America's largest hi-fi show.
Re-Tales #8: A Lyrical Denouement
New York's Lyric Hi-Fi & Video is one of high-end audio's longest-standing and most legendary institutions. In a recent telephone conversation, Leonard Bellezza, Lyric's owner and president, confirmed what many in this industry have long heard rumored: Lyric is closing.
Re-Tales #9: Mind the Gap
To borrow Lyric Hi-Fi owner Leonard Bellezza's words from last month's Re-Tales, the traditional audiophile customer base "is graying."
That doesn't mean the future is bleaknot necessarily. Many in the industry have hope for hi-fi's future. For that potential future to be realized, however, audio dealers must adapt. Interest in better sound seems to be rising. Consider vinyl's resurgence; regardless of your views on vinyl's ultimate fidelity, it's a big step up from the earlier fashion for MP3s and cheap earbuds. (There's good news on that front, too: Those earbuds morphed into Beats headphones, then Beats into good-quality headphones.