B&O Hampstead

Just heard today the sad news that this branch is closing.

Great team there and hope they all do well in their new ventures.

Ah that is terrible news! I know the guys well there - I bought my V1 there. Sad news indeed.

Jonathan

From their current website:

The Hampstead showroom was the very first Bang & Olufsen franchise to open its doors in the UK. The store has recently benefited from a total re-furbishment, optimising the layout for the very latest products and new technologies.

The showroom is located in the heart of Hampstead village, which is probably best known for its many and varied cafés and fashion boutiques. There is plenty of pay and display parking close to the store, with free parking on Sundays. Please call us if you would like directions.

The full Bang & Olufsen product range is available and on permanent demonstration.

In the next few pages you will find all the latest information about Bang & Olufsen products and what is happening in our store. We update our pages regularly, so add this page to your favourites and check back for all the latest news.

We would like to thank you for visiting the Bang & Olufsen of Hampstead website. If you would like to join our database or have any suggestions as to how we could improve our web pages, please click here to send us an e-mail.

They are indeed closing, and I echo the sentiment that they're a fantastic store. In fact, one of the very best in the UK in my opinion.

It's always sad when a dealership closes its doors - but more so when it's a good one.

I really don't see how reducing the number of dealers will be good for business.  If i'd never seen B&O in the flesh I'd never have fallen in love with it, I'd not be doing what I'm doing now, and I wouldn't even be a BeoWorld Member..

To appreciate Bang & Olufsen you have to see it, feel it and use it - not see a picture in a magazine or a bit of Adobe Flash on a screen.

I'd bring back 'shop in shop'...  You put B&O next to any other product and you then appreciate the craftsmanship, design and materials used.

However, I'm not the CEO 

Lee

 

9 LEE:

However, I'm not the CEO 

 

Do us a favour if the position becomes vacant again please apply!

I understood the previous policy to be that under-performing franchise stores were taken over by B&O UK. Are franchises now vulnerable to outright closure? And what is the situation regarding stores already part of B&O UK? Did B&O ever clarify the stores on their announced European hit-list?

Graham

If a place like Hampstead is feeling the recession , what hope for the rest of the uk !?!?!

Sad News

Sorry to hear about hampstead, I think bang olufsen need to listen to the dealers and stop taking the high ground, the investment a dealer has to make to become a dealer is very expensive shop, staff, and the equipment, hopefully they will listen and stop looking to the Far East for sales and maybe remember all the customers who have invested in bang & olufsen over the years, this is just my thoughts :)

Very sad. I know that shop very well!  My gosh, Hampstead is FULL of millionaires. I think the cheapest house there costs several million.

If they are buying B&O, well, what hope is there?

Meant to write *If they are not

Is this one of the first stores that B&O are closing? Or are they just getting out before it gets worse?

Not closed by B&O (I don't know of anywhere in the UK that has been), but a conscious decision of the owner who has spent a very long time in retail with a renewal of the lease impending. Within that time things have changed a lot, and along with many others who have been in the business for a long time through good times and bad, the desire to change and drive forward was not there this time.

There is money in Hampstead, of course, but most of the residents do not throw it around and few do their shopping on the high street. The store was also very small and not ideally located so did not make sense for Bang & Olufsen to take over. A new B1 in the area at some point would not be a surprise.

Regarding the general picture, the dealership has been changing for a while and will continue to do so, and this process is being significantly sped up by the less than buoyant economic situation. New sales channels are required and while the B1 will be a vital part of the landscape it cannot be considered appropriate as the sole avenue nowadays. Once the brand is more widely in the hands of younger customers through BeoPlay by Bang & Olufsen and via the new channels we can hopefully all enjoy an ever stronger range of core Bang & Olufsen products, sold through a smaller number of larger dealerships, each with more internal expertise.

I hope that helps explain the direction things are going in.

well said - GoBeo!

Greetings Millemissen