Check out a store I saw on the Upper West Side of Manhattan yesterday. There is nothing unique about Unique News & Smoke. Their name is a lie. The products are available from hundreds of stores here. The service was barely average.
I wondered is they used the name to, of itself, suggest they are unique but that doesn’t make sense. Who knows?
Seeing the shop was a reminder of the importance of trading under a name that makes sense and reasonable represents the business. It’s got to be a name that reinforces what the business is an offers. This business offered nothing unique.
Mark, I would be interested to know what these shops are stocking or selling. Have you spoken to any of the owners?
What interests me is the budweiser sign in the window. It appears they may sell beers. Now i know they are not the traditional newsagency that we have over here, but it may be an option to step outside the box and insert a fridge and sell a limited range of six pack beers and wine. Yes we would need a licquor licence and this may be prohibative. But for some it could be a small market?
We sell thongs and hats; and often the comment is made from the customer that they never expected to buy such an item from a newsagent. We can shake things up by selling items outside our traditional range?
If others can take from our market, lets see if we can take from theirs. It’s just a thought.
Clive, These stores tend to be between 30 and 60 sq metres. They sell: magazines (very small range), tobacco products, soft drinks, chocolate snacks, packaged food (muffins, cookies, fruit salad), fresh fruit (in some), postcards, beer, even wine. Very much a convenience offering.
the range varies. The stores closer to Times Square are more catering to tourists whereas this store up near 80th on the Upper West Side was catering more to locals.
from my understanding to have a bottle shop you will also need to have a hotel/pub in specific area of each other . the bottle shop next door to me said to owm a bottle shop you need both .
The best option i see working is anything to do with food , there is good money to be made with takeaway food .unforunantly i have one beside me so it is not an option
Perhaps they sell other products under the counter and are you sure those cookies were just cookies? Are our lucky charm newsagencies really lucky? It in the the interpretation
We sell honey and fruit in our newsagency/post office. 🙂 Fresh from our farm, and we always sell out. I had a tourist take photos of themselves buying honey the other day, they just couldn’t believe you could buy it in a newsagency!