Just as the dot-com bubble was about to burst in San Francisco, AudioVision SF opened for business. This month, the store will celebrate its 20th birthday proving that despite rough economic times and changes in consumers’ shopping habits, there is still value in a brick and mortar hi-fi store. And yes, according to Antonio Long and Randolph Johnson, life-long friends and business partners, they get quite a few customers who ride a San Francisco cable car to the store since the cable cars stop right across the street. There’s also paid parking at the Holiday Inn (1500 Van Ness Ave) a block from the store.
But take our word for it, the cable car is just more fun! For our recent visit, we had lunch first at The Slanted Door, a highly-rated San Francisco restaurant inside the historic Ferry Building with beautiful views of the San Francisco Bay. After the delicious meal, we walked a couple of blocks and hopped on the cable car ($7 per person each way). Playing tourists, we enjoyed seeing some iconic sites as the cable car passed by Chinatown, the Mark Hopkins Hotel and Grace Cathedral.
Trust us, though, this visit was definitely more about the destination than the ride. Somehow AudioVision SF packs products from 141 different brands into their space, and they can realistically provide multiple options for whatever gear a customer may be shopping for. Antonio said, “The whole concept of having so much gear is because I used to go to shops that were very limited. I’d say I’m looking for a pair of speakers for $2,000, and they would say well, we’ve got this bookshelf and this floor-stander.”
He recalls leaving stores frustrated because there was no way to replicate the sound from store to store for comparison. “So, I thought, the ideal way to buy is if I could come to a store and they had 15 brands of speakers. If I asked for a $2,000 speaker, they could show me 8. We can do that here.”
Early Days
AudioVision SF started in a high-end furniture store on Van Ness Avenue, one of the most expensive areas of town. Here’s how that went down. Both Antonio and Randolph were musicians, and while they needed part-time jobs to pay the bills, they also needed flexibility. “Being around a lot of independent business owners, at some point I thought, you know what, I am never going to make a real living playing music. It’s time to look for some sort of path that isn’t working for somebody else.” So, he talked the store owner into letting him rent some unused space on the second floor for a hi-fi store, while he continued to work his regular part-time job. Antonio says the store owner probably agreed because he didn’t think the hi-fi store was going to go anywhere. “He knew I was a good employee, and I think he wanted to keep me happy.”
So, next, Antonio thought he was being really smart and he would apply for a Small Business Administration loan. He had a friend who knew how to write a prospectus, and since Antonio is Puerto Rican, he was sure he could get a loan as a minority. Wrong! His initial capital to buy gear came from two high-interest credit cards of $10 grand each, and the interest rate was 25%. The store opened with gear from Arcam, Naim, Triangle Speakers, and Acoustic Energy, but for the first two months, the business went nowhere.
Changes in the Business
The store has gone through changes over the years. They started off as a two-channel store but later started doing some home theater and whole-house systems. “The thing that we’ve done since day one of the 20 years we have been in business is to reinvest and reinvest and reinvest,” Antonio explained. The way their business works is that they buy everything upfront. Occasionally they will have a new product the manufacturer wants to put in the store to see if it will sell. If it catches on, then Antonio and Randolph may decide to buy more units.
“The thing that hasn’t changed here is that we are in San Francisco, the most expensive city per square inch that you can imagine, and we have all this stuff, and we have all this investment, and we aren’t a discount store. It’s not that you can’t find things at a discount because we still buy back our gear from our clients, so we have used gear and demo gear. So, we always have a discount area. But what we have done that has kept us here is change our language to explain our value.” That value is the experience of being able to hear and compare gear. “Without the experience that goes with hearing the speaker, why would you ever buy the $20,000 model speaker when the $1,000 model online looks about the same?”
It’s taken time to refine their message, but basically, they tell customers that if they like the store and want the store to work with them, then they should buy from the store instead of looking elsewhere. Elsewhere these days is the Internet, which he says is the biggest and most difficult change in the industry in the last 20 years. “Probably half of our industry is gone because of the Internet, and that’s not an exaggeration,” adding, “It’s funny that the number of stores is still shrinking, but the number of brands never does.”
Mass production, China and other factors have also had an impact on local hi-fi stores going out of business by driving down the price of what a decent system should cost. As an example, he says you can get a decent, entry-level turntable for about $400 dollars. This isn’t remarkably different from what an entry-level table would have cost 20 years ago.
Not Another ‘Me Too’ Hi-Fi Shop
Antonio says his plan was never to be just another ‘me too’ hi-fi shop. “We wanted to offer something different, and for better or for worse this is what we came up with,” Antonio says. About half of the people who come into their store are folks who are looking for something specific and half say they are just looking for good sound.
The latter half is the most fun as we can build their experience. “That’s the big selling point of the store. You can come in and be your own reviewer. If we can duplicate one set of electronics and change out components, or vice versa, in rooms that are not acoustically treated, that’s about as close to an in-home experience as we can replicate.” They don’t do in-home trials, but they do offer home installation for hi-end systems. Customer education also takes up a big part of their time.
20th Anniversary Celebration
We asked how they get the word out about their store, and Antonio said, “What we’ve done consistently through the years is to have events just like we are doing for our 20th anniversary, September 27th through September 29th. We send out postcards and buy advertising on different websites and publications. We try to put ourselves anywhere music is involved.”
And what luck, The Beatles 50th Anniversary reissue of Abbey Road on vinyl is on September 27th. Antonio says they plan to be playing this LP throughout the weekend. Mark your calendar now and plan to head on over to San Francisco for at least part of this event.
Friday evening from 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm is planned as a celebration featuring their oldest brands. Food, music, and giveaways will make for a festive evening. On Saturday from 11 am until 6 pm and on Sunday from 12 pm to 6 pm, the fun continues. There will be 27 manufacturers demoing products in person. Welcoming Gryphon as their newest brand, a full Gryphon system will be playing in a large listening room at the Holiday Inn on Saturday. On Sunday, the YG Acoustics’ big speakers will be featured in the Gryphon system. This system will also feature Audience frontRow cables. There will also be a dedicated headphone listening room with the $20K Warwick Acoustics Reference Aperio Electrostatic Headphones. You can find even more information on the AVSF website, but we plan to be there for at least part of the weekend.
Plan Your Visit
Antonio and Randolph would love to see you at their 20th-anniversary celebration, but due to limited seating, they would appreciate an RSVP to info@audiovisionsf. If you plan to visit any other time, you will want to remember they are closed on Tuesdays. Hours Monday and Wednesday thru Friday are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. On weekends, they are open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. 7 p.m. and on Sundays from 12 p.m. until 7 p.m. If you plan to visit to audition gear, you can make an appointment by calling the store at 415.614.1118 or by email.
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