Page 12 - Westman Business 2017

12 THE BRANDON SUN • WESTMAN BUSINESS • OCTOBER 2017

Eye Opener Book Store owner Scott Bradley is seen next to some of the Brandon retail outlet’s product, which he also sells online. (Tyler Clarke/The Brandon Sun)
Online sales are another tool to shop local

DIGITAL SHOPPING CAN OFFER SOME CONVENIENCE, BUT IT CAN’T OFFER THE CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT BRICK AND MORTAR OUTLETS PROVIDE

BY TYLER CLARKE that most brick and mortar outlets price themselves out of what they need while they’re already there.
the market. Plus, there’s the tactile nature of vinyl records, wherein
The constant push to “buy local” only goes so far when Taking board games as an example, he said that while customers prefer to see the used records firsthand prior to
one’s finances are tight and items can be found less expen- most physical retail outlets mark them up by 200 to 300 purchase in order to see what kind of nicks and scratches
sively online. per cent, he found early success in marking them up by only are on them.
With brick and mortar stores carrying greater overhead 100 per cent. Meanwhile, Nylen has also become Canada’s exclusive
than online outlets, driving up their prices, owners have Pricing as close as he can to online prices is one means online distributor for Loog brand guitars; three-stringed
been charged with bringing people in anyway. of remaining competitive with online competitors, though children’s guitars that are sold online at loogguitars.ca.
It’s an ongoing challenge that local retailers face, with Bradley also points to the local comic book culture with When it comes to online shopping, shipping charges are
some successfully blending the brick and mortar and online keeping the retail space viable. always top of mind, adding to the overall cost.
retail worlds together. Local comic book fans have gravitated toward the store, This is where Brandon Business Interiors has come out
Scott Bradley found success in the online marketplace where they connect with like-minded individuals and are on top, with owner Jordan Ludwig saying that their office
long before he bought Eye Opener Book Store, the Wheat able to physically see things prior to purchase. furniture is too expensive to make online shopping worth-
City’s only comic book shop at 314 10th St. He has created a space that those within the local comic while for many.
He’d been selling comics and collectables for approxi- book culture want to support. They still have a toe in the online waters, offering their
mately five years and decided that he needed a base of op- On that front, he hopes to begin hosting events, and said products online at brandon-business-
erations. That, and his wife wanted his merchandise out of that a longer-term goal would be hosting a full-on comic interiors.myshopify.com, but the strong majority of their
the house. book convention in Brandon. sales continue to come out of their retail space at 1525 Pa-
An online shopper himself, Bradley said that making a This idea of a retail outlet being a draw in itself is one cific Ave.
go at things in a physical retail environment is tough within that Faders Music owner Chris Nylen has taken to heart. This doesn’t mean that online sales haven’t impacted the
the competitive environment of online retail options. He has approximately 10 music instructors who provide business, Ludwig said, adding that the online world has
Even so, he’s trying. lessons out of the space. forced them to move up in the marketplace.
“Going into this, my goal was to be competitive as much With the retail side of things providing the instruments
as I can be with the big online retailers,” he said, adding and required paraphernalia on site, students oftentimes buy » Continued on Page 14