NEWS: Superfi Closes Final 6 Stores

Thats a shame, not used them for a few years but did have some good deals back in the day and staff always seemed to know what they were on about. Getting less and less places to actually touch and feel products before buying now.
 
Thats a shame, not used them for a few years but did have some good deals back in the day and staff always seemed to know what they were on about. Getting less and less places to actually touch and feel products before buying them online instead now.
Fixed
 
Dont know what the other stores were like, but I found the Derby one to be pretty lacklustre. TBF I have not visited them a lot, I did find the staff were enthusiastic, but not what you would call experts. Fans I guess is the best choice.

However their demo room was very poor. Messy and with stuff not working and just very unprofessional.

But it's still sad to see yet another bricks and mortar shop close and now even less places to demo stuff or even see it in the flesh
 
Dont know what the other stores were like, but I found the Derby one to be pretty lacklustre. TBF I have not visited them a lot, I did find the staff were enthusiastic, but not what you would call experts. Fans I guess is the best choice.
That's the problem...people want to see things in the flesh,and want a demo,but then dont commit to buying from the place where you have taken up someone's time...and could have lost them a sale in the meantime....
However their demo room was very poor. Messy and with stuff not working and just very unprofessional.

But it's still sad to see yet another bricks and mortar shop close and now even less places to demo stuff or even see it in the flesh
 
Were a proper hifi store back in the day. Bought my first stereo separates from them and 2 years ago my latest receiver. Also my main speakers. Sad news.
 
Past few times ive been yo the nottingham store theyve told me to go off the website. But always were helpful and friendly
 
That’s a shame, bought quite a lot of stuff from them over the years, walked passed the Manchester store and saw the shuttle half way down and assumed it was stuck, guess it was open to recover stock and shut down.
 
My recent dealings with superfi are detailed in the Arcam avr thread in detail. However,it’s very sad if those staff have lost their jobs. I go past the Nottingham store every morning on the way to work and there is hardly ever anyone In there. Brought my first ever 2 channel separates from there of arcam amp and CD player and mission 760 speakers. Seems a lifetime ago,but was 25 years ago. Back then they were enthusiasts but as the market moved towards home cinema,I think they lost their magic as all the original staff moved on. I am wondering where it leaves the warranty on my five day old arcam A390 which I bought from there last Sunday. Will fire an email to arcam tomorrow. On a larger scale,it makes you wonder what will become of the mid to high end 2 channel and home cinema market. At this rate it will be niche geeks like us on here who will pay for quality products,then £100 sound bars at the other end of the market with curry’s et al taking that part of the market. Very sad.
 
dts said:
That's the problem...people want to see things in the flesh,and want a demo,but then dont commit to buying from the place where you have taken up someone's time...and could have lost them a sale in the meantime....
I know and I don't know why they do that.

Why put yourself through the effort of potentially having to return stuff when you have to try and get someone on the phone, argue your point etc to just a voice, then organise it's return etc etc. I bought a TV once online. I aint ever doing it again.
 
I always found them to be more expensive than other similar retailers and the staff/setup in the Nottingham store was never great in my opinion.

Still a shame to lose a physical store selling AV gear.
 
I used to frequent the Superfi store in Birmingham quite a lot. The guys there were always very helpful and knowledgeable...the store is located on the same road as Richer Sounds, just across the road in fact so I always pop into both stores to have a look around even if I am not buying anything. Superfi was always less busy than RS but stocked gear which RS didn't and vice versa.

Sorry to see them go.
 
Well, we are living in the age of 'no-fi' where all amplifiers sound the same, bell wire is perfectly adequate and if you pay more than 99p for an HDMI lead you're treat like some kind of nutter.

See what you've done.
 
The best consistent customer service I've ever had (from a Hi-fi shop) by a country mile was from my local Superfi... At one point I wanted a compact system for my dining room. The Superfi manager spent ages (in their demo room) showing me different combinations of kit. It wasn't going to be a really expensive purchase, so pretty impressive service to start with. I decided on a small Denon/Kef combo.
The manager sent me off home with the stuff, he didn't take payment or my details. He just told me to try it for a couple of weeks and either bring it back If I didn't like it or come back in and pay for it. A good judge of character I guess, I wouldn't rip anyone off even If I knew I could get away with it.

:clap:

Shame to see the last of them go, sign of the times I guess.

:(
 
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I bought my first dvd player from them back in the day - Panasonic dvd 565a (or 656a?) at a bargain price of 330 quid, reduced from 400..!
 
It's a sad they've closed - not only for the high street, but also because people have lost their jobs. I hope their staff are able to quickly find employment elsewhere.

They used to have a branch in Hull City centre (where the BBC Studios are now located).
Back in the LaserDisc days they were great. Always friendly & helpful. I bought a Pioneer LaserDisc player and a Yamaha AVR from them + cables and bits and bobs.

The Hull store closed many years ago, but I've used the Lincoln store a couple of times, and purchased an Onkyo AVR from them. Again, friendly helpful and competitively priced.

Our towns are turning into nothing more than places that sell coffee between the charity and betting shops. It's a real shame and the decline seems far quicker here than in Europe (this *isn't* a Brexit comment).


Regards,
James.
 
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That's a shame. Bought my Arcam CD82 and A85 from the Manchester branch in 2003 and still going strong. They did me a decent deal on them too as well as being able listen in the store and take the stuff home there and then.

We've lost Sevenoaks, Central, the one at the end of Deansgate and now Superfi over the last decade or so. At least Richer Sounds and Practical Hi-fi (or Audio-T as they now call it) are still around.
 
My recent dealings with superfi are detailed in the Arcam avr thread in detail. However,it’s very sad if those staff have lost their jobs. I go past the Nottingham store every morning on the way to work and there is hardly ever anyone In there. Brought my first ever 2 channel separates from there of arcam amp and CD player and mission 760 speakers. Seems a lifetime ago,but was 25 years ago. Back then they were enthusiasts but as the market moved towards home cinema,I think they lost their magic as all the original staff moved on. I am wondering where it leaves the warranty on my five day old arcam A390 which I bought from there last Sunday. Will fire an email to arcam tomorrow. On a larger scale,it makes you wonder what will become of the mid to high end 2 channel and home cinema market. At this rate it will be niche geeks like us on here who will pay for quality products,then £100 sound bars at the other end of the market with curry’s et al taking that part of the market. Very sad.

Warranty.

If it is a normal product warranty then you just process it through the manufacturer - admittedly you lise tye advantage of dropping it off at the store.

If the store does an extended warranty - like JL offers two years rather than one then you may have lost those additional years.

If you have purchased additional warranty, like a five year cover, then that is generally with a third party even though it may have superfi branding so these generally continue to exist.

Hopefully you will never need to find out.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I used to frequent the Leeds store where I purchased my Sennheiser HD650's at a very good price. They were very friendly and informative and let me demo loads of headphones with different amps. Very sad news
 
It is a real shame that stores that actually stock high end products that you can see and play with are going out of business.
But the problem is with us. Be honest: don't you always check online, and if there is a significant difference, buy there.
 
Rather annoying, just spent £1k on a new Denon receiver from them with 5 year warranty which I haven't even switched on yet. I can live with losing 3 years of it as manufacturer warranty is 2 years however Denon state you have to go via the retailer you purchased from in the event of a problem. Anyone know what manufacturers normally do in these circumstances?

Bought online and paid via paypal, I wonder if I have any comeback that way?
 
A bit of info for anyone, buying with Paypal online and paying with a credit card. You get NO section 75 recourse using PayPal. Basically I only ever use PayPal if the purchase is £100 or less.

Get your credit card out of your pocket and pay direct if its over £100 and you want protection from your credit card.

As for Superfi, I got all my original setup from the Manchester Branch they guy was great and super knowledgeable and helpful. That must be 20 years ago now though.

In fairness my recent view hasn't changed that much, always helpful, great when I was demoing some KEFs a short while ago but in the end the R series just didn't sound good enough to my ears and I went in another direction.

Shame to see them go, not great to demo something online and in my experience they always matched those online anyway when asked.
 
A bit of info for anyone, buying with Paypal online and paying with a credit card. You get NO section 75 recourse using PayPal. Basically I only ever use PayPal if the purchase is £100 or less.

Get your credit card out of your pocket and pay direct if its over £100 and you want protection from your credit card.

As for Superfi, I got all my original setup from the Manchester Branch they guy was great and super knowledgeable and helpful. That must be 20 years ago now though.

In fairness my recent view hasn't changed that much, always helpful, great when I was demoing some KEFs a short while ago but in the end the R series just didn't sound good enough to my ears and I went in another direction.

Shame to see them go, not great to demo something online and in my experience they always matched those online anyway when asked.

Even by using paypal credit, I'm fairly sure that should and does include section 75 protection? I use their 4 months free offer quite often.

Edit... Warning! Don’t use PayPal to pay on a credit card
Confirmation it's included in paypal credit option only
 
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I think this means there is only Sevenoaks and Richer Sounds who are considered as chain stores in hi-fi equipment now.
 

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