Hi Everyone,
Well I’m not really sure what to say to be honest other than HFL is 10 years old, how did that happen?
I guess firstly Wendy and myself would like to say a huge thanks to all our customers over that time, I don’t like the word customers really as many have become great friends over the last decade so thanks to all of HFL’s friends who have helped make the last 10 years an incredible experience. I know I’ve said this before but when we took a punt at opening a HiFi shop I really didn’t think we’d last 2 years but I thought it was worth a try and would hopefully lead to a job in HiFI somewhere but here we are 10 years on still living the dream, quite incredible really. When I look back I do wonder what Wendy and I were thinking back in 2012 really, selling our house to fund it, very little experience, setting up on a farm with no passing trade in the middle of a recession but luckily we found out quickly that there is a real passion for music and HiFi out there and to be honest we hit the ground running and haven’t looked back since, most definitely the best decision we have ever made, so thanks again everyone, it wouldn’t have been possible without you all.
Let’s go back to the beginning!
So we are going to have a little party on November 5th to celebrate a decade of HiFi Lounge and it would be great to celebrate with anyone who would like to come along. Now over the last 10 years the number of brands we represent has grown a little so the idea for the party on the 5th is to go back to where we started and celebrate with the 8 brands we started with so we will have 3 demo rooms running with Naim, PMC, Rega, Spendor, REL, Bryston, HiFi Racks and Atlas Cables all running so there will be plenty of different systems to listen to with representatives from each brand present.
Chris with Vinyl for Sale!
Over the last 10 years we have done a lot of open days, always great fun, but the most popular we do are always our vinyl days, in particular having Chris here with his great selection of vinyl for sale so we couldn’t have a party without Chris so I am really pleased to say he will be here with a real variety of vinyl for sale on the day.
Looking back!
10 Years is a fairly long time I guess and I couldn’t help but think back and look at how we have changed over that 10 years, I remember when we took on No4 The Granary with it’s 4 rooms which became an office and 3 demo rooms, I really wondered how would fill it, it seemed huge but looking where we are now we could do with even more space, there is so much great HiFi out there. One of the great things about where we are located is that we had space to expand by taking on more barns and knocking it all into one space. A couple of years after we launched we setup ‘Highend Headphones’ in one of the barns 2 doors down then a few years after we took on the buildings that linked HFL and HH to become what we have today, but not one to stand still earlier this year we launched iLounge Racing offering a World first as far as I know, of a retail demo facility for Motorsport racing simulators for home which is proving a lot of fun.
Growing Team
The initial plan was for me and Wendy to run HFL, to keep it small and manageable. I started running it but Wendy also kept her day job to help pay the rent. We both worked every moment we had, relying on friends to help with open days etc. Wendy gave up her career and came on board full time after a couple of years. Now we have Ady here on Friday and Saturday; Billy here most of the week; Haydon doing ebay and general helping out and Jono helping run iLounge Racing. As many will know, finding the right people to fit a business can be very challenging but I feel we have a great team now to take us forward to our next chapter.
RSVP
I could keep writing about all the adventures we have had here but we can discuss all that at the party as there are just so many great memories from the last 10 years, so I hope you can make our 10 year anniversary and if you would like to come I would appreciate it if you could send a quick RSVP to my e-mail address below –
Time Machine
I just wanted to give a quick mention to a website called Time Machine where you can view any website from any time, I really don’t know how they store everything but it has been fun seeing how we have grown over the last decade, please find a link below –
https://web.archive.org/web/20120919095009/http://hifilounge.co.uk/
Offers on the Day!
We are talking with the 8 brands that we are celebrating with about offers for the day so we will announce more about this nearer the time and needless to say we will have plenty of cake and refreshments available throughout the day, we will run from 9.30am until everyone has had enough so it could be a late one.
Please find a few pictures below of various stages throughout 10 years of HFL, it has been so much fun looking back.
Thanks again everyone for your support over the last decade, here’s looking forward to what the next 10 years will have in store for us, one thing’s for sure is that I know it will be a lot of fun.
2012, We’re open and ready for action!
Then we Opened Highend Headphones
Then we knocked through to Link HiFi Lounge and Highend Headphone to create 2 more demo rooms!
Now we have iLounge Racing
We went from this in 2012 –
To This, no wonder we are always busy –
Open days have always been a bit part of HFL, Looking forward to many more.
Take care all and hope to see you on the 5th.
Cheers,
Paul, Wendy, Billy and Ady.
