Do you have a computer shop?

[tom11011]

I thought I would throw this poll question out there.

I have to imagine deciding on whether or not to have a store front has to be one of the hardest decisions a new tech business has to make. Back when a computer or laptop cost $1500, people would shell out $200-$300 for a repair once a year and feel that it was a good value. But today, when you can buy a laptop or computer for $300, people may not see the value in expensive repairs. For that reason, I'm not sure a shop makes sense anymore unless you have other activities going on there.

 

[bensthelens]

If you like overheads..open a store

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

We have an "office"...consists of 3x suites in a professional center.
We don't have a "store front" as in retail. But customers come here....we focus on SMB clients.
Laptops and workstations...fully loaded, "business grade"...still can hit 1500 bucks.

I remember when they cost 4,000 and 5,000 bucks.

 

[mraikes]

Making the choices of picking up from customers and customers coming to you mutually exclusive is flawed.

I do both. Although much more often than not, since I don't charge extra for pickup and delivery, my customers opt for that. But sometimes they prefer to drop off and pickup themselves (appointment required). So I do both. Works just fine for me.

 

[frederick]

We operate more out of an "office" than a store front

 

[nlinecomputers]

I office from my home and my clientele is all SMBs. Can't really say this poll applies to me.

 

[callthatgirl]

I didn't vote as none applied to me, but remember what I told you in the email? I would seriously consider your up and coming new cloud clients, those folks don't need a store, they need you to know your remote support and products, I'd get an office so they can stop in for meetings.

Shops are so 2013 (kidding!)

 

[Rosco]

When i first opened up it was my goal to open a store or office at some point. I thought it wasnt really as professional to wok out of my house. I have sense let that go. No one really seems to mind. Small business love the pick up and onsite. I have been growing every month in a down economy. The freedom of working out of my house is my i part of the enjoyment of running my own business. I do not think i will be opening a office just because i love being able to pick up my kids from school and stuff like that if i dont have an appointment, the freedom is second to none.

Just as a remember to newer people 52% of all small business in the USA are home based. That stat was giving to me by my local small bussiness administration.

 

[tom11011]

I didn't vote as none applied to me, but remember what I told you in the email? I would seriously consider your up and coming new cloud clients, those folks don't need a store, they need you to know your remote support and products, I'd get an office so they can stop in for meetings.

Shops are so 2013 (kidding!)

I work out of a larger office. I was simply curious.

 

[Kitten Kong]

I work from home (well converted garage into a workshop). I have the vast majority of my clients come direct to the workshop. Most of them ring first to make an appt, some just come on down.

It works good for me. Being disabled, with my back, if im in pain, I close up shop, and go up to the house for a rest. I can take the day off if needed. The dogs come down, and stay with me through the day. I can up and leave at a moments notice, to take them for a walk. I don't have any transport during the day, so I do my call outs of an evening. From 7pm onwards.

I've been working this way, for over 8 years, and its worked fine for me. I would love a retail outlet, but there are just so many downsides to this for me, that its just not practical.

 

[cyabro]

I tried working from home for the first year and while it worked OK I think that was only due to the small client base.
As the number of customers grew it became to hard to manage with all the pickups and drop offs required. I didn't let anyone come to my house plus we were sort of rural so people didn't want drive out anyway.
Since having a shop I've hired 4 staff and only got busier.
We have also moved once, after being at the original shop for 2 years, as we outgrew it and have now been in the current shop for about 3&1/2 years.
We have it in the plan to move again to a bigger shop but this time we want to buy the building rather than pay rent to someone else.

 

['putertutor]

When I started, I had aspirations of opening a store front, but for the most part that is no longer the case. My SMB and resi customers like the onsite service and since most know me or at least know of me (small town) have no issues with me taking their equipment back to my bench at home.

Although I have no issues with drop offs at the house, I can count on one hand the number of times a customer has chosen that route. Many offer to bring it by, but I just like going out to see the environment its in, what other equipment is a prt of the mix, etc.

 

[AndyM]

Like a few here, I don't have a store, but I do work out of an office. Customers can come and drop their computers off, but I prefer by appointment, as there is no telling when I will be out at a customers, and currently, it's only myself running the business.

Andy

 

[carrcomp]

None of the above

None of the above. We run remote only ... although my brother is thinking about opening up a shop.

 

[TazUk]

There should be an option for working from an office

I share an office with two other guys who work in telecoms, keeps the costs down but makes the company seem bigger/more professional.

 

[TenYardFight]

There are 3 of us full time, and we have a storefront. I dont suppose we need it, and we dont make any money from the residential clients it brings, but we have met 9 out of 10 of our business clients there. The visibility helps us while selling B2B in the community.

 

[acscva]

I use to have a 4000 sq ft store front (showroom and service center). When I moved to Virginia I originally had an office with a small showroom. Now I currently work from my home office and enjoy it much better and am saving a ton of money on expenses.

I am working on trying to find a building to buy that has multiple offices that I can lease out and then just have one available for my company to use as a conference room/meeting area.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

There should be an option for working from an office

Yeah I suppose that would make for a better answer. Although I answered "yes" above...stating a few suites in a professional center, it's not really a "store". We don't have retail product on display, nor a cash register.

It's a few offices, and a server room (mini data center).
With a staff of 5 of us so far (hopefully growing)...plus tons of deliveries, lots of garbage (boxes and boxes and boxes), storage needs (we also have 2x storage units in this complex), we need office.

Plus in the professional center....we all share a nice kitchen. Need place to store all our beer!
Bathrooms.
Big dumpster out back.
Secured area, cameras and DVR on the whole complex.

The visibility of a business, having signage...helps growth.
We are 99% SMB clients too...so no need for a storefront (in the retail sense)...but certainly a need for offices. Wouldn't want to have staff hanging out in my home every day, messing up our kitchen and using our bathrooms.

 

[redmon]

Back when a computer or laptop cost $1500, people would shell out $200-$300 for a repair once a year and feel that it was a good value. But today, when you can buy a laptop or computer for $300, people may not see the value in expensive repairs.

We do $200 to $300 repairs on a regular basis. Most people are paying you to keep their life and data in order, not to fix the hardware as cheap as possible. Even for the people without data and just want an inexpensive hardware fix would rather spend $210(our cost to replace a hard drive with os installed) instead of buying a new computer. While we have it, we will sell av which has a $35 mark up. You need to be a service business who takes care of your clients emotional needs to use their computer.

Edit //
We have a nice store front. I see both sides of having or not having. For residential repirs, I think it can more easily allow for a self sustainable business that can run on its own and has more potential to sell in the future

One big downside to a shop is having to manage workers to do the job you want them to do. Once you have a shop with employees your job is less fixing computers and more keeping quality control good via managing people. It's a whole different game.

 

[solg]

I didn't vote as none applied to me, but remember what I told you in the email? I would seriously consider your up and coming new cloud clients, those folks don't need a store, they need you to know your remote support and products, I'd get an office so they can stop in for meetings.

Shops are so 2013 (kidding!)

On the note of getting an office, if its just going to be for meetings and increasing your professional image, I'd recommend getting a virtual office. Some will collect and forward your mail and calls while having a verifiable physical location. This can also help in Google places listings. The voffice can range from $29 to $150. Heck you can even get a VoIP number and put a professionally recorded greeting and truly set yourself apart for about $60.