Do you ever wonder how some businesses can exist?

[CoolHands]

Eg just randomly saw this business form a streetview link on another thread. So I look the shop up out of interest as its called maxfixings and I'm thinking they can't just sell fixings, but they do! http://www.maxfixings.co.uk

So they supply 'fixings' to the building trade. I guess stuff like Fischer bolts etc but how can an entire business exist around that? How many builders are going to think I know I'll call maxfixings rather than go to screwfix or their normal builders merchants? They don't sell via the Internet so it's literally just fixings for the local area I guess. And they have the costs of running a shop too!

[98elise]

Sometimes being a specialist supplier works.

There is a place in London (just 1 shop) that just sells nuts bolts screws etc that has been in business for decades.

People go there because they will always have what you want.

[Frimley111R]

They might not sell much from their shops but probably do sell a lot via the web but in general as an answer to your question - yes, every day!

[CoolHands]

Yeah I find it frustrating as I'm always wondering how some of these businesses make enough money. And yet at the same time you know how difficult it is for businesses to succeed yet they seem to be a contradiction.

Also on a sort of unrelated thing have you noticed how many 'sign writing' shops there are (usually do vans etc).

[Europa1]

There is a shop just off Southampton Row in London that just sells umbrellas. I think it's great that places like that survive.

[iphonedyou]

Europa1 said:

There is a shop just off Southampton Row in London that just sells umbrellas. I think it's great that places like that survive.

Got my brolly there

[The Moose]

There's a fixings shop in Slough that is just the same. That's all they do in some crappy industrial unit. Have everything both metric and imperial. If I ever need something that's not bog standard I go there and haven't been disappointed yet!

[selwonk]

I give you:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4797599,-2.15166...

Droylsden Pigeon Corn Supplies. I appreciate being Oop Norf it's not quite "niche", but all the same...

[markiii]

I wonder how BT exists every day

[Digga]

CoolHands said:

Also on a sort of unrelated thing have you noticed how many 'sign writing' shops there are (usually do vans etc).

Actually not a bad gig; they also tend to do stuff like estate agent's board and H&S signage, so there's a pretty steady stream of work and it all (certinaly installation) has to be done locally - i.e. cannot be offshored.

[b0rk]

CoolHands said:

Eg just randomly saw this business form a streetview link on another thread. So I look the shop up out of interest as its called maxfixings and I'm thinking they can't just sell fixings, but they do! http://www.maxfixings.co.uk

So they supply 'fixings' to the building trade. I guess stuff like Fischer bolts etc but how can an entire business exist around that? How many builders are going to think I know I'll call maxfixings rather than go to screwfix or their normal builders merchants? They don't sell via the Internet so it's literally just fixings for the local area I guess. And they have the costs of running a shop too!

Well the building trade at commercial scale uses truly vast amounts of fixings... we for example £170k pa on screws alone and around £320k on fixings/consumables... They're probably also doing an element of drop shipped business from contractors based locally but working out of area.
Why not use screwfix etc well you've got the list price, the internet price, the merchants price for one off's and then the true price...

[technodup]

I was in somewhere last week which only only sold one thing. Gold leaf for tombstone inscriptions.

I think they did some other specialist paints in small quantities but the gold was the big draw. Only place in Scotland that does it apparently, been there a hundred years and likely a hundred more.

Up a side street with no other shops in a residential part of Glasgow, you'd wonder how it could survive but if every monumental mason in the country has an account...

[DukeDickson]

CoolHands said:

Eg just randomly saw this business form a streetview link on another thread. So I look the shop up out of interest as its called maxfixings and I'm thinking they can't just sell fixings, but they do! http://www.maxfixings.co.uk

So they supply 'fixings' to the building trade. I guess stuff like Fischer bolts etc but how can an entire business exist around that? How many builders are going to think I know I'll call maxfixings rather than go to screwfix or their normal builders merchants? They don't sell via the Internet so it's literally just fixings for the local area I guess. And they have the costs of running a shop too!

Various reasons why:

Specialist

Specialist & earner

Hobby (with or without money)

Expert of some sort (with or without money)

CGAF

and so on.

[Catatafish]

DukeDickson said:

Various reasons why:

Specialist

Specialist & earner

Hobby (with or without money)

Expert of some sort (with or without money)

CGAF

and so on.

+1 it's not hard to imagine the scenario where a business makes a loss but the owner can afford it and does not automatically stop it due to reasons above.

[Frimley111R]

Some business owners work ridiculous hours and earn very little. I see it quite often. If you do the sums they are on less than the minimum wage sometimes!

[Thankyou4calling]

Frimley111R said:

Some business owners work ridiculous hours and earn very little. I see it quite often. If you do the sums they are on less than the minimum wage sometimes!

That's very true.

If you take the example of a corner shop.

It can only work because the variable costs are so much lower than a managed shop.

Often the owner will live above the shop and when they aren't behind the counter their wife or kids are so there's no, or minimal wage bill.

It's a very hard way to make a living.

Another thing is that we almost never know the full picture, we are guessing.

We don't know the costs, income or margins so speculation is just that.

[SHutchinson]

There's a shop on Blackstock Road in Highbury that just sells fresh naan breads. Granted, they're delicious, but that's all they sell!

I just presume it's a front for a money laundering operation.

[Sheepshanks]

Frimley111R said:

Some business owners work ridiculous hours and earn very little. I see it quite often. If you do the sums they are on less than the minimum wage sometimes!

I often think that too - many seem to be run more as a hobby, particularly some service businesses. Everybody wants things doing cheaply but if you cost up stuff it's hard to know how much of their activity makes any commercial sense.

[AB]

Loads of little antique shops on small back streets that never seem to have anyone in them...

How on earth do they afford rent/bills etc AND make worthwhile money?

[Dogwatch]

98elise said:

Sometimes being a specialist supplier works.

There is a place in London (just 1 shop) that just sells nuts bolts screws etc that has been in business for decades.

People go there because they will always have what you want.

Similar sounding one in Hove.