In
today's online edition of the Otago Daily Times Marbecks Dunedin announces a
move away from books and music towards food and coffee:
Changes
are planned - but not a closure - as Dunedin's Marbecks store seeks to avoid
the fate set to befall one of New Zealand's music institutions.
Marbecks
on Auckland's Queen St will close in March after 78 years, because of dwindling
sales and rising online competition.
Marbecks
managing director Roger Harper said the configuration of the Dunedin store would
change this year, as a result of declining CD and DVD sales.
However,
he said there were no plans to close the store in the Wall Street mall.
The
Queen St store, which sold only music, had proven to be ''obsolete'' when faced
with competition from online sales, but Dunedin's store opened three years ago
with those new commercial realities in mind, he said.
Dunedin's
shop mixed music with books and a cafe, which was proving successful, he said.
Changes
this year would shift the shop's focus more towards the cafe operation and away
from music and books, although the sale of both would remain part of the
business, he said.
Dunedin's
shop was likely to receive much of the leftover stock from the Queen St store,
he said.
''Obviously
times are changing for the retail product that's in Wall Street, and we have
got to change with those times.
''Where
closures are happening is where there's no economic model for the existing
retail model,'' he said.
Ironically,
the largest growth area for Marbecks was the sale of vinyl records, although
for good reason, Mr Harper believed.
''It
sounds better. There's a reason for it to live.''
Footnote:
My thanks to Otago-based poet David Howard for bringing this story to my notice.
No comments:
Post a Comment