JS

Im in the process of opening a shop (hopefully)in oshawa possibly east of thickson road right by the 401. I was wondering if I could get any input from some of you guys on this~ I have a few ideas of what product I want to carry, but I really want to know what you guys think of this, and, what you Durham region guys and girls are looking for in source units, and amplifiers, A/V stuff the whole thing.

The shop is going to do full custom installs, as well as the usual deck and two's, but were also going to do alot of navigational systems and ATV/PWC/MotorCycle alarms too!

I'm really excited about this and I want to hear what you all have to think about it so im open to all sugestions, hints, pointers, whatever!

Thanks in advance!
[img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img] JS [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

wiltshire559

iTrader: (1)

hey thats cool

I'm new to this car audio stuff myself and am in your area

I went out one day and checked 3 stores, forgive I forget the names but I can describe the locations and you will know them

north of oshawa center, little store that used to be unicor comics, right beside 2001 audio/video

some store in Whitby across from Dairy Queen on hw2

and Tool Tyme on Hopkins st

I decided to go with Tool Tyme because their prices are decent and they realy do their best to help out customers with any questions and I have lots

I'm now the proud owner of a 2000watt sound system that is currently getting put together

best of luck to you but you do have well established competition

Father Yuli

iTrader: (17)

anything you can sell is good, just make sure your prices are right.

Hardwrkr

iTrader: (5)

Well there's lot's of competition in the Durham area. Whitby HIFI gives good deals but don't know much about competition and Custom Autosound on Hopkins is overpriced but they do good work. I wouldn't trust any of the other stores in the area to even change my fuses.
The main problem I find in the area is that the shops only know the mainstream stuff and don't bother to learn what else is out there. They will tell you that Fosgate is the best and so on but they really don't have a clue. I went to Whitby HIFI to get some power wire and they asked me what I was running. When I told them a Resonant Engineering HC15 they told me they never heard of RE and said "you should listen to these W3's or even the W0's cause they were really good subs". So I listened while they clipped a small amp running them. Thanks for the demo I said. Just the wire today please.
My advice would be to bring some fresh products into the Durham area, do some research on what some of the less mainstream companies have to offer and keep an open mind when it comes to new products.
Hope this helps and feel free to PM me with any thoughts.

Hardwrkr

iTrader: (5)

Actually, I forgot about one place called Simcoe HIFI in Oshawa. I stopped in there one day coming home from the gym and ended up talking to the owner for over an hour when we realized we're friends with the same owner's and distributor's of car audio. He's a great guy, knowledgeable, and does his homework but as a businessman, knows mainstream sells and that's what he depends on.
As a person he's a great guy.

Andrew

There's also Custom Auto Radio by the AMC in Whitby....

Fishbone

Don't want to rain on anyone's parade...but with that much competition, you have to differentiate yourself from everyone else...what are you going to do that's different or better??? Think hard about that question...in my 20 years in car audio, I have seen so many shops fail...not one of 10 shops I dealt with in my first ten years is still around...

FB

JS

Wow! Thanks!

I knew of two or three (one by O.C. and the one on dundas east of thickson, and I really hope that im not stepping on any toes, but those affraid of compition, in my opinion are affraid of doing a good job!) and they didn't seem like they had the want, or resources to do exactly what I was thinking of doing.

What is going to put us on the map is our custom peices, (I dont really want to get into it on this forum) the prototypes turned out amazing and im working on more molds as I type! I want to specialize in the custom install, lots of 'glass, and my passion is boxes, you wont find any mass produced boxes purchased by my shop either. Every box in the store will be built to specs of the woofer, and we'll even factor in the vehical type. Were gonna spend the time to time allign, and set your crossover rates properly, and have the high end product to keep you guys and girls happy.

Its seem to me (where I'm located now anyway, I cant speak about the Durham guys) that the shops out here are more interested in getting you to buy, then getting you out! they dont care what the $500 you just spent sounds good or not, just that you spent it, or their just tired of doing car audio (this is only in my experiance, i dont know anybody out in durham really, and im not one to talk trash so dont be insultaded!, and if you read fishbones link, youll see other ppl have had lots of problems like this, and if it happened once, chances are it'll happen again, or before!)

I'm young and full of ideas, and knowlegde, so I have all the energy to do it properly, and not having an established buisness, you know im gonna do it right, 'cuz man, I want you comming back, not just coming in! Were gonna have the facilities to take the long term install, ('glass vynil MDF, Kicks, gauge pods, trim peices, fenders, you want it, we'll design and build it!) Plus we do the show quality work that WILL bring you trophies! Im serious. Right now we have to vehicals (86 S-10, and a 96 GSR integra) that are being prepped to win everything in next years show season, just to show off our work and get our name out there. The biggest draw to my shop I hope anyways, will be the atmosphere that we present, a friendly non ****y one, where were not to busy to ansewr questions no matter how silly or dumb you think they are and help you out with your own install/system, plus events that we are planning, from cruise nights, to b.b.q's and maybe even a custom club. We are car audio, to its purest stage, I live, eat, and breath it, I'm always learning new things, and I'm always coming up with new great ideas, but I think the fact that were gonna make all our enclosures in house to specs, (or what sounds best!) and show our customers the propper way to set up what they want, is going to be our biggest draw, we also have the room for long term cars, and can produce show quality results, that acually sound good! Like, were gonna test our products to find out what works poor, good and amazing, so the consumer dosent have to. Theres nothing more frusterating than a $300 sub in a box that is totally wrong for that application, its a waste of money, and a customer will leave sour and never come back. Car Audio is my passion, and our work will speak for itself

JS

p.s.

Plus I was trained by the absolute best in the industry, (about 80 yrs of experiance!) If you were at darknights and you saw a phat system, chances are it was done by these guys, and I have no fear that i can (and have) produced results as good if not better. Get ready O-town! [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

wiltshire559

iTrader: (1)

ok JS I might be visting your store when it opens. right now I'm in the process of building my own box out of mdf and would of loved to have professionaly done but the stupid company that Tool Tyme deals with for their boxes don't do custome very often and were taking to long. over a month of waiting and no sign of my box that I put a deposit on

right now I have no option but to live with whatever quality I get from this sub box, I'm doing the best I can but I doubt it would compare to something done by somebody that has made many before