The future of DIY

[Nightjar]

The worst thing is that they exist and have, in many cases, displaced proper ironmongers, paint shops, etc. If you want to build a DIY store I would use, everything needs to be in anonomous brown boxes, with someone at the counter who knows exactly which one contains, say a 1/2" long,

3/8" whitworth grub screw, hexagon socket and can sell me one of them.

Not if they know what they are doing.

Most will buy from trade outlets at trade prices, with discounting structures that mean they can turn a profit, even if they charge the customer 'trade list price'.

Colin Bignell

[Ian White]

Only on a *named* cushion.

[ARWadsworth]

You mean the staff?

Adam

[Andy Dingley]

That won't stop anyone, it just makes things go underground.

[TheOldFellow]

You may have a point. Maybe I should say: start with one good store somewhere with big catchment, do it really well, train your staff, and then put on-line on top before going country-wide.

I don't know how Screwfix started, but I didn't think they had stores until later in their business development cycle. (then they got bought by (forgot), and subtle alterations ruin things, but there you go, way of the world - accountantitis and cost-plus-syndrome probably)

R.

[Jules]

Yes. We've got a combined DIY store / tool rental place in town, and the rental rates are actually pretty reasonable if you want something in lumps of a whole day - but I don't think they'll rent by the hour (and the tools to buy are extremely expensive given that I can typically get the same ones just down the road at the farm place for far less)

[Tim W]

TheOldFellow wibbled on Friday 15 January 2010 16:16

Seen too many companies that were doing well (from nothing a few years back) being sold for profit, then the new company ruins them.

[Stuart Noble]

Severed limbs everywhere

[Tim W]

Stuart Noble wibbled on Friday 15 January 2010 18:25

Put it next to the kebab shop.

[The Natural Philosopher]

where? (looks round madly)..not in my immediate vicinity..

[Jules]

I missed the obvious "good idea, but it'll cost you and arm and a leg" line, didn't I?

[Andy Dingley]

Ikea in Bristol probably sell them.

Fairly often now, there have been outbreaks of creatively reproduced, and beautifully printed, product labels appearing throughout the store. Some have been genuine barcodes for the thing in question (but you'll think forever afterwards that you really did buy a "Kn=F8bj=F8ckey" lampshade), others have been for a generic plastic bogbrush, a giant sofa or something very obviously wrong.

No-one knows if it's punters or staff doing it. But it's a very Bristol sort of thing.

[John Rumm]

I found that as my confidence and skills grew, what I wanted from a DIY shop changed rapidly anyway. There is a place for plumbing fittings in a plastic pack hanging from a hook, with fitting instructions on the card

- but you move through that fairly quickly to wanting a bulk bag at less silly prices.

Yup, and a good range of materials etc

While there are a few trades represented in the regular contributors here, most of us are not professional DIYers (if such a thing is actually possible).

[Tim W]

Andy Dingley wibbled on Friday 15 January 2010 19:22

Very good :-)

[Theo Markettos]

Possibly for DIY, but mass production has made it difficult for anything portable. Why build yourself a magazine rack (the sort of thing that used to be a school woodwork project) when you can buy one at Ikea for 4.99? You can't even buy the wood for that. It only becomes worthwhile when it's something bespoke (to fit a particular space, say), or is designed around something you can't buy (eg a bit of driftwood found on the beach).

I tend to treat this as an anti-science: how you can take some cheap mass-produced product and turn it into something else. (He says, typing this over a wifi connection using a GBP1.20 Wilko kitchen sieve as reflector)

That would be good... otherwise it gets left to the local college, who probably don't have the facilities.

B&Q et al do offer DVDs of 'how to tile' and that sort of thing, so they do get involved to some minimal extent.

(On a similar line I'd be up for a course on something like 'advanced car maintenance' - how to change the head gasket, rather than how to check the oil which is what most colleges seem to offer)

Theo

[Theo Markettos]

Funny you should mention that, since (a quick Google tells me) the OP used to be a Consumer PR Manager at IKEA :-)

Theo

[Theo Markettos]

Trouble is, if you sell 3 nails at 3p each, you don't even cover costs for the time to count them.

One way to do it might be clever use of price breaks. How about: (for some item where the packet price might be 99p for 10)

1-5: 12p 6-20: 8p 21-50: 5p 51-100: 3p 101+: 1p (numbers completely made up and untested)

That encourages people to buy more in bulk, but only if they need to.

Then use supermarket-style weighing scales and recognition chart at the checkout to price them. Then you don't have to have anyone manning the pick'n'mix desk (apart, I suppose, from worrying about people slipping them in their pockets).

ALDI's staff work by simply throwing the items at you off the end of the checkout. A bit hazardous if it's a length of metal pipe or a tin of paint.

Theo

[The Natural Philosopher]

Theo Markettos wrote: Why build yourself a magazine rack (the sort of thing that used

because you can build a far far better one?

[Bruce]

A strong candidate for "meaningless job titles of the 21st century".

[mark]

and out of any wood you choose .

mark