[sdiy] Small Bear Electronics retiring

[Brian Willoughby]

Small Bear Electronics plans to stay in business and sell off the inventory. I suppose that may be harder than he imagines. Sharing the sourcing list would be a lot easier than selling the entire inventory (adding another shipping cost).

There's always ad-hoc, where the first person who needs a strange part does a bulk order from a distributor, then shares the remaining inventory on a list like Synth DIY (assuming they don't mind re-packaging and shipping after collecting from others).

Brian Willoughby


On Sep 23, 2021, at 10:25, Peter Pearson <electrocontinuo at gmail.com> wrote:
> My personal $.02 is that the real savvy would be making enough money off such a venture that you can keep the business afloat and pay yourself and any employees a living wage at the same time.  Not easy.  As Dave Jones from the EEVblog likes to say, "inventory is the enemy of cash flow".  
> 
> Just guessing here but it's probably a few hundred grand worth of parts in total so the price of admission wouldn't be cheap either.
> 
> On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 12:57 PM Brian Willoughby <brianw at audiobanshee.com> wrote:
>> It seems that the business model is:
>> 
>> Buy in bulk, maintain inventory, display inventory on web site, take and fulfill orders, price items to maintain business overhead, ship to happy customers (while dealing with customer support).
>> 
>> I assume that anyone willing to do all of that labor could start a similar business. It doesn't seem necessary for the replacement to be called "Small Bear Electronics" or hold any relation.
>> 
>> Perhaps the one key piece of business savvy to pass on would be: Where to source all of the parts that Small Bear carries.
>> 
>> Brian Willoughby
>> 
>> On Sep 23, 2021, at 08:09, David G Dixon via Synth-diy <synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:
>> > It would be ideal if there were someone that he could pass the business off
>> > to, rather than just shutting it down.  A succession plan, as it were.
>> > 
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: Ben Stuyts
>> > Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2021 2:38 PM
>> > 
>> > [CAUTION: Non-UBC Email]
>> > 
>> > Just read this: Small Bear is retiring and shutting down the business.
>> > Selling down the inventory, so if you need something, be quick:
>> > 
>> > https://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/autumn-2021/
>> > 
>> > I've only ordered a once or twice from them (other side of the pond), but
>> > they have a great assortment of parts.
>> > 
>> > Ben
>