Could the Midlands Do with an Airsoft Shop

Stone.cold

Ok, this is purely Research, no one has said that they intend to open one, but i have heard a few retailers talk about opening new shops and i feel the midlands and north west could seriously do with one but it doesnt seem to come on the radar.

So this poll will give any retailers thinkin of setting up a new shop some feedback from this area

tfitzgerald

i think one in the limerick/clare area would do very well. i know i would use it .

ricka

Stone.cold wrote: »

Ok, this is purely Research, no one has said that they intend to open one, but i have heard a few retailers talk about opening new shops and i feel the midlands and north west could seriously do with one but it doesnt seem to come on the radar.

So this poll will give any retailers thinkin of setting up a new shop some feedback from this area

I'll only discuss this over a couple of pints;)

Stone.cold

ricka wrote: »

I'll only discuss this over a couple of pints;)

u dont work weekends right i'll set em up u knock them down

ricka

Stone.cold wrote: »

u dont work weekends right i'll set em up u knock them down

Thats a date............Did i just say that to the six foot three guy with a beard:o

DeBurca

tfitzgerald wrote: »

i think one in the limerick/clare area would do very well. i know i would use it .

There is one in the Limerick/Clare area its called Mid West Airsoft http://www.mwairsoft.net/
Tony (Ninjalmk) runs it, there is no walk in retail shop at present but I believe that he has plans for one
If you need anything he is more then willing to bring stuff to you or meet someplace that suits you both
Mid West Airsoft have a thread in the retail section of this forum
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055724859

kdouglas

To be honest I think there are enough airsoft shops in the country as is.

Could the midlands do with one? Probably

Does Ireland need more? Not really

Stone.cold

ricka wrote: »

Thats a date............Did i just say that to the six foot three guy with a beard:o

lmao the things i do for my hobby

Stone.cold

kdouglas wrote: »

To be honest I think there are enough airsoft shops in the country as is.

Could the midlands do with one? Probably

Does Ireland need more? Not really

thats true but look at where the shops are based, surely spreading the wings a bit more would benefit the retailers. there is an airsoft community down here thats needs to travel to dublin or buy online for even something as simple as bb's

Masada

Its mad how many shops are over here already, I think there's something like 12 main retailers here, more than their are in the entire UK airsoft scene.

Stone.cold

Masada wrote: »

Its mad how many shops are over here already, I think there's something like 12 main retailers here, more than their are in the entire UK airsoft scene.

but the point im making is there is a large area that is not being exploited, we had a mobile shop come to the site last year and his van was nearly cleaned out of stock and that was just us, i am buying a new pistol but i have to find a saturday when i have half a day free to drive to dublin to get one, ands thats because i know what i want if i want to go and have a decent look around then its a whole day

se conman

If there is a site that is being well attended then it would probably support a shop.I for one cannot buy guns or anything online as I feel the need to pick it up and feel it first.Online is OK for checking a stock list but you have to buy in person .IMHO.

ricka

Stone.cold wrote: »

thats true but look at where the shops are based, surely spreading the wings a bit more would benefit the retailers. there is an airsoft community down here thats needs to travel to dublin or buy online for even something as simple as bb's

I know some people here wont like this but to be a sucessfull Airsoft retailer you have to tap into much more than just Gamers.I would say 60% of our retail sales is with people who have no intention of ever gaming.To be honest thats where the real business is done.
MIA are experts at this and thats why the rest of us are playing catch up.
An Airsoft shop anywhere in Ireland could definately make money as long as they can market to the general public aswell as gamers.

Stone.cold

ricka wrote: »

I know some people here wont like this but to be a sucessfull Airsoft retailer you have to tap into much more than just Gamers.I would say 60% of our retail sales is with people who have no intention of ever gaming.To be honest thats where the real business is done.
MIA are experts at this and thats why the rest of us are playing catch up.
An Airsoft shop anywhere in Ireland could definately make money as long as they can market to the general public aswell as gamers.

about a month ago a truck parked in longford main street the whole side of it was an MIA advertisement, it got everyones attention, and the amount of people i work with that know what i do and suddenly realised it was different to paintball because of that advertisement and asked me where they r based

Danin

Just to let everyone know there are plans to have a retail section provided with Tigerland, which should help people in Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo and parts of Donegal but it may be a bit far for lads in the Midlands to travel as its possibly the same distance to Dublin.

Stone.cold

Danin wrote: »

Just to let everyone know there are plans to have a retail section provided with Tigerland, which should help people in Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo and parts of Donegal but it may be a bit far for lads in the Midlands to travel as its possibly the same distance to Dublin.

a walk in shop?

Lemming

I'd agree with Kdouglas on this one. Everyone wants the convenience of an airsoft shop within five minutes walk from them. Economics unfortunately don't work that way, and everyone saying "oh if only there was a shop on site" doesn't work quite the way you think it will either. It's easy to say "sure it'd be hugely successful", but everyone will go mad at first clearing out stock, then selling will taper off to a much slower pace and you're back to step #1 on the economic viability scale. There will always be exceptions as somebody somehow finds either a niche in which to fit or a well visited site, but those are the exception I feel.

I don't understand this obsession. Vast areas of the UK do just fine without having a walk-in retailer within walking distance, so why does a country with a fraction of the player population within a fraction of the population need significantly more retailers than the UK? The math doesn't add up to common sense.

Edit: To put this in perspective: Dublin has two walk-in shops and two more on the immediate periphery (pardon me if I'm missing any). London has two. Now, what's the population size of London?

Stone.cold

Lemming wrote: »

I'd agree with Kdouglas on this one. Everyone wants the convenience of an airsoft shop within five minutes walk from them. Economics unfortunately don't work that way, and everyone saying "oh if only there was a shop on site" doesn't work quite the way you think it will either. It's easy to say "sure it'd be hugely successful", but everyone will go mad at first clearing out stock, then selling will taper off to a much slower pace and you're back to step #1 on the economic viability scale. There will always be exceptions as somebody somehow finds either a niche in which to fit or a well visited site, but those are the exception I feel.

I don't understand this obsession. Vast areas of the UK do just fine without having a walk-in retailer within walking distance, so why does a country with a fraction of the player population within a fraction of the population need significantly more retailers than the UK? The math doesn't add up to common sense.

Edit: To put this in perspective: Dublin has two walk-in shops and two more on the immediate periphery (pardon me if I'm missing any). London has two. Now, what's the population size of London?

I'm not talking about walkin distance or 5 minutes away, the midlands/north west is a vast area and airsoft is growing in popularity down here and im sure will even more with the possibility of a site opening in sligo, there is a market thats my point and a lot of people who might think about taking up airsoft are put of by the fact that they need to travel to dublin (just an example) to even hold one in there hands.

i came across airsoft walking by a shop window in dublin all those years ago i would never have found it down here thats my point im not saying flood the country with shops what im saying is place shops in areas where there is a potential for a large market, at present there are 3 shops in dublin, 1 in north wicklow 2 in wexford 1 in galway 1 in cork 1 in carlow and 2 in kildare (apoligises if i missed anyone)the whole midlands northwest is missed.

Puding

you just have to take your passion for the hobby out of it and ask yourself 'can this do enough trade to pay the bills for the shop and my wages'

tbh boards is the worst place ever to do business research, your looking at a very narrow demographic

3 shops in dublin, 1 in north wicklow 2 in wexford 1 in galway 1 in cork 1 in carlow and 2 in kildare (apoligises if i missed anyone)the whole midlands northwest is missed.

issue with this is that there supplying a market that is the equivalent to say a city in another country that might be lucky to have a site or two and maybe one shop, know clearly this comparison is not black and white due to many many factors but is something you have to consider, there is a massive market for 'replicas' as hobbyairsoft mentioned which tbh is larger than the skirmishing side of airsoft but there is a lot of money that is needed to be pumped in to gain a share of this, MIA have this anyone who types in airsoft into a search engine or youtube get MIA up as an advert, any forum or site i go to remotely related to military ( militaryphotos forum for example) also has the advert

Lemming

Stone.cold wrote: »

I'm not talking about walkin distance or 5 minutes away, the midlands/north west is a vast area and airsoft is growing in popularity down here and im sure will even more with the possibility of a site opening in sligo, there is a market thats my point and a lot of people who might think about taking up airsoft are put of by the fact that they need to travel to dublin (just an example) to even hold one in there hands.

/sigh

You know that when I said "in walking distance" I wasn't speaking literally right? If the justification for opening a shop is convenience rather than the proximity of a player population capable of supporting said shop, I'd think again about my business model.

The midlands/north may be a vast (in terms of Ireland) geographical tract of land, but what's the player population? It's easy to think "all that land", but it's got nothing to do with land, it's got everything to do with an active population.

i came across airsoft walking by a shop window in dublin all those years ago i would never have found it down here thats my point im not saying flood the country with shops what im saying is place shops in areas where there is a potential for a large market, at present there are 3 shops in dublin, 1 in north wicklow 2 in wexford 1 in galway 1 in cork 1 in carlow and 2 in kildare (apoligises if i missed anyone)the whole midlands northwest is missed.

But that's exactly what's happening. The country has been flooded. There are more retailers in the republic of Ireland than there are in the entirety of the UK. Which is complete f*cking madness. Common sense alone says it's unsupportable.

There are approximately eight (last time I checked that they were trading) full-time, walk in stores the length and breadth of the UK.

Stone.cold

Puding wrote: »

you just have to take your passion for the hobby out of it and ask yourself 'can this do enough trade to pay the bills for the shop and my wages'

tbh boards is the worst place ever to do business research, your looking at a very narrow demographic

All the airsoft retailers with one or two exceptions are on here if they see a market in this area anyone thinkin of opening a new shop may look in this direction.

Stone.cold

Lemming wrote: »

/sigh .

My apoligise is this conversation annoys u in some way

Lemming wrote: »

/sigh

You know that when I said "in walking distance" I wasn't speaking literally right? .

you could start off by losing ure attitude

Lemming wrote: »

/It's easy to think "all that land", but it's got nothing to do with land, it's got everything to do with an active population.

i think you will find there is a vast population down here

Lemming wrote: »

/Which is complete f*cking madness. Common sense alone says it's unsupportable.

again no need for the attitude,

but thanks for your input

Puding

Stone.cold wrote: »

All the airsoft retailers with one or two exceptions are on here if they see a market in this area anyone thinkin of opening a new shop may look in this direction.

and? a fraction of airsoft use boards, it is fundamentally dublin centric, for example in cork/kerry your lucky if 1 in 20 use/read boards, we see boards as the irish airsoft community, well its the boards airsoft community

just look at the latest ta event if you read the thread on boards you would have got the impression a couple of people where playing greens and 99% of players on tan, in reality its even as a lot of people signed up that have nothing to do with boards

im sorry to say this but from my experience boards may be the loudest faction in terms of airsoft in Ireland but its defiantly an minority, i know people may not agree with this but its my experience

All the airsoft retailers with one or two exceptions are on here if they see a market in this area anyone thinking of opening a new shop may look in this direction.

true but one of the retailers not on hear sells more than 70% - 80% of the shops on boards put together, there are 10 retailors for example but how much trade are they doing how big is the market share, the fact there on boards means nothing thb, you can get a thread in the retailers sections for a few euros a month

Stone.cold

i agree with you and its partly my point the vast majority of people in the areas i mentioned dont know the first thing about airsoft because the have no access to it, if there was a shop anywhere in the above areas that would change the situation. as i said one truck had half of longford wanting to know more

Puding

Stone.cold wrote: »

i agree with you and its partly my point the vast majority of people in the areas i mentioned dont know the first thing about airsoft because the have no access to it, if there was a shop anywhere in the above areas that would change the situation. as i said one truck had half of longford wanting to know more

i would agree, but this is the problem with any business plan to do with airsoft, it is sometimes difficult to translate the 'wow this is cool' factor into sales and even work out how much of this may even bring in sales, if your looking to get up a brick shop then its a lot to gamble on

Stone.cold

Puding wrote: »

i would agree, but this is the problem with any business plan to do with airsoft, it is sometimes difficult to translate the 'wow this is cool' factor into sales and even work out how much of this may even bring in sales, if your looking to get up a brick shop then its a lot to gamble on

true and thats why i just wanted to get a feel from the airsofters on boards in this area and the retailers feedback on if or not is was a possiblity

Lemming

Stone.cold wrote: »

My apoligise is this conversation annoys u in some way

It irks me when something that is rather obviously not meant to be taken literally is taken literally as a basis for ones argument. Which you rather clearly did. So ...

you could start off by losing ure attitude

Touche. Hello Mr. Pot. I'm Mr. Kettle.

i think you will find there is a vast population down here

And as both Puding and myself have either said or alluded to, from that quote unquote "vast population" what numbers are required to make a venture viable?

Your idea of a vast population might be in contrast to everything I highlighted previously regarding population sizes. And as Puding has already said, boards is not a particularly good indicator of potential market sizes.

edit: Puding also made a good comment regarding introducing a previously unknowing population to airsoft. How to translate it from "wow cool" to sustained sales. Can the vast population you spoke of support that even from a numerical probable statistics point of view?

Puding

Stone.cold wrote: »

true and thats why i just wanted to get a feel from the airsofters on boards in this area and the retailers feedback on if or not is was a possiblity

problem with that is it is like asking a chocoholic forum if a new Thorntons shop on there street, as expected the response would be rather predictable and lopsided due to the demographic your asking

Stone.cold

Lemming wrote: »

It irks me when something that is rather obviously not meant to be taken literally is taken literally as a basis for ones argument. Which you rather clearly did. So ...



Touche. Hello Mr. Pot. I'm Mr. Kettle.




And as both Puding and myself have either said or alluded to, from that quote unquote "vast population" what numbers are required to make a venture viable?

Your idea of a vast population might be in contrast to everything I highlighted previously regarding population sizes. And as Puding has already said, boards is not a particularly good indicator of potential market sizes.

edit: Puding also made a good comment regarding introducing a previously unknowing population to airsoft. How to translate it from "wow cool" to sustained sales. Can the vast population you spoke of support that even from a numerical probable statistics point of view?

I have no idea thats why i started the thread to try and get an idea from the airsofters that use boards in this area would it be a large enough population hence the word research in my opening post

Stone.cold

Puding wrote: »

problem with that is it is like asking a chocoholic forum if a new Thorntons shop on there street, as expected the response would be rather predictable and lopsided due to the demographic your asking

apparently not seeing as more people are posting against the idea so far but again that was the idea of opening the thread

Puding

Stone.cold wrote: »

I have no idea thats why i started the thread to try and get an idea from the airsofters that use boards in this area would it be a large enough population hence the word research in my opening post

well i say your getting good research your getting both positive and negative inputs to factor into what your thinking about, when you look at it the posters your getting some rather interesting feed back from a fair number of people who have either a big experience of national and international airsoft or have experiences in some area of the airsoft retail in Ireland

you may get people with strong opinions and views but i would rather have this and a range of inputs than a thread full of ' cool idea'

Stone.cold wrote: »

apparently not seeing as more people are posting against the idea so far but again that was the idea of opening the thread

well its more interesting to see who is saying what, see comment above this quote

know don;t get me wrong there may be a market in your area for a shop, but if there is the market it will serve will more than likely have nothing to do with the existing boards community, as said it would almost be a case of making your own market