Smiths City - will it be the next 'Dick Smith'?

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#2048505 3-Jul-2018 18:59

cruxis:

Going to smiths city reminds me going there in 80s, It feels so old school and samey. The thing I noticed missing is the firearms section has gone. The floor space is noticeable too must cost a bit. I feel the market competitors are doing a better job with moving with the times. Can't tell if smith citys is high end or low end. ie ballantynes, warehouse

Upstairs back in the day, the outdoors, fishing, shooting was great.

Dont go there ,much now. Electronics is small, just go for furniture browsing. Pity.

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#2048506 3-Jul-2018 19:04

Fred99:

There's no future in the general market mid-range "department store". Discount barns might survive, higher end department stores might. They won't.

They are toast. To be fair to the directors/managers - they really had nowhere to go. If you were running the place where your market was being eaten at the low end, at the high end, and especially by specialist stores in the middle - what would you have done to save it?

Agree. Harvey Normal is my choice in ChCh, NL next and nearby. Whiteware, average range of electronics (HN has more) Smiths City, well lots of furniture. They need to focus on furniture maybe. Or get back into outdoors as well as furniture

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#2048510 3-Jul-2018 19:20

I was a solid customer in the late 90's early 2000's kitted out the flat and then the home and car with custom stereo,

They lost me in the 2000's to the larger cities as HN had all the gear I wanted at sharper pricing,

Now buying for our business rural 10k ppl town , I buy everything there, using a farmlands card,

Farmlands Pricing is based on cost + a margin,

Ive had HN hang up on me and flat out refuse to return calls against these deals.

We accomodate seasonal staff, so purchases for Microwaves, Beds, Fridges, you name it.

Would be sad if they go,

And whilst picking up my purchases you'd be surprised how many commercial drop ship sales roll out the storage side of there business , probably different in the main centeres

quickymart

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#2048542 3-Jul-2018 20:22

My stepdad buys almost everything from Smiths City, now I think about it, for the same reason: he can use his Farmlands card there. I personally wouldn't go there myself.

Dunnersfella

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#2048616 3-Jul-2018 21:36

I agree with the sentiment that Smith's are caught between a rock and a hard place.

I used to look at the bike department in the main Christchurch store. It was depressing.

They were generalists in an industry surrounded by specialists - it's fair to say that they never seemed to have any customers.

Their furniture range is typically cheaper pine, the sort of units you expect to see with doilies and china plates... in nanas house.

One of the big issues they faced a while ago was that their customer base was aging.

Now, many of them have died or moved into a home... hate to say it, but it is what it is.

From a retailing perspective they don't appear to have an aged stock program, meaning the staff / management don't seem to be interested in selling old products at a discount in order to have the latest and greatest on the floor. Laptops are a crying shame, audio is missing the big brands, TV's are missing the likes of Sony... No Apple, no real console gaming (let alone PC), no real clue.

I'd say they have two years left.

trig42

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#2048775 4-Jul-2018 10:03

Last year they opened a new store just up the road from where I work (Wairau Park, Auckland).

I went in there, once, to have a look around. There seemed to be a lot of floor space, and not much product. It looked good, but there was nothing I was interested in buying or stopping to even look at unfortunately.

They have a bit of competition around there too. Harvey Norman (who have just completed a big renovation),Briscoes, Noel Leeming, Warehouse Stationery and JB HiFi all very close by.

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#2048794 4-Jul-2018 10:38

Plus Warehouse Stationery and Harvey Norman both have their 'concept stores' that far out 'flash' the Smiths City fitout...

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#2048869 4-Jul-2018 11:39

I actually buy quite a bit from Smiths City - bought my washer and dryer from them too. The sales guys will match + beat any price and always had quite good support.

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#2049092 4-Jul-2018 15:55

Electronics seem to be their most glaring weakness. Back in the nineties when they had their last big fright, they would let tower type computers sit around forever without discounting them. I saw one in their Greymouth shop which was so ridiculously over priced that a person could have travelled to Christchurch, stayed in a nice motel, bought a PC in Chch, & still be hundreds of dollars ahead.

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#2049168 4-Jul-2018 17:48

That's a problem with the Coast - proximity to Christchurch where everything is cheaper and it's not too far. I remember that when I lived there too, lots of Coasters going to Chch every weekend for shopping.

amiga500

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#2049293 4-Jul-2018 22:01

quickymart:

That's a problem with the Coast - proximity to Christchurch where everything is cheaper and it's not too far. I remember that when I lived there too, lots of Coasters going to Chch every weekend for shopping.

I can't remember the specs. on the Greymouth PC but it was a really nice mid-tower mid range type of PC. They had just had it in the shop for far far too long. I only remember it because I was so gob smacked when I saw the specs and the price tag. From memory it was priced at something like double the equivalent could be bought for in Chch! So it was pretty extreme.

Not long before Bush Inn Smiths City closed they had a Seagate external desktop drive for sale that had to be at least five years old - it had the sloping front case!

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#2049362 4-Jul-2018 23:29

I tried to convince my stepdad to get his desktop from somewhere else but he only wanted to go there so he could use his Farmlands card. I guess Smith's City must have that segment of the market sewn up.

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#2049402 5-Jul-2018 08:43

When we used to do familycampogtri[sd (shudder) we bought quite a lot of camping gear through Smith's City. Good range reasonable prices (in NZ context) abnd happy to source what they didn't have in stock.

Something that has always struck me about Smiths City is there are some categorises where they carry a very limited range - hunting and fishing being examples. Sometimes I think they are jack of all trades and master of none.

Mike

amiga500

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#2049643 5-Jul-2018 11:31

If any Smiths City should make money it would be the Ch.ch shop. On Colombo Street no road cones and cycle ways being constructed. Easy access off Moorehouse Ave. Opposite Sth City mall. And they have their own very large car park - which 11.30 ish yesterday had exactly six cars parked within. Whether these were customer cars or staff cars I have no idea.

Wiggum

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#2049644 5-Jul-2018 11:34

The only time we shop at Smiths City is on boxing day. Their sales are always pretty good. Bought plenty from them in the past. Heatpumps, Dining Tables, Fridge, new lounge suite.

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