Your dream job

[tiger_rick]

I think for a lot of these scenarios, finding a smaller space in a good market or community space would be a great starting point with lower overheads and risk. That's actually something I'd love to do. There's an old cinema in our town that used to be a Spar/Post Office. It sat empty for a while and I thought it'd be absolutely perfect as 8-10 small units with some capacity to run a small market too. It's become a tyre place and hand car wash now which is good that it isn't sat empty but not as exciting as it could be.

My problem is I'm full of ideas but fuck all money or bottle.

[deathrey]

Just now, tiger_rick said:

My problem is I'm full of ideas but fuck all money or bottle.

Same, I could probably get a bit of the money together but no help with the bottle. And with 2 small kids, I think it would currently be a crazy thing to do.

[SuperBacon]

Right, fuck it, let's forum fund a hip hop cafe/football club/bookshop/content creation/counselling/cowboy shop/whatever space for ourselves. 

Is the Coventry Skydome still available?

[BomberPat]

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

I like to think you still get that to a point now, especially with record stores or local book shops. I love being able to just walk in and say 'oh I need a new book for holiday' and get talking to a staff member about what they like.

Obviously it's tough in retail at the moment, thanks to rent, business rates, cost of living, all the usual bullshit, but there's a reason that record shops are generally one of the things to have bucked the trend of decline in physical shops.

The received wisdom for years was that Amazon would kill bricks and mortar book and record shops because they could offer greater choice, but actually, choice isn't always what people want, it can be paralysing. The shops that Amazon ended up impacting more were the likes of HMV and Virgin Megastore, because what they offered was greater choice than smaller stores, but they couldn't compete on that field with Amazon. But a lot of the smaller shops that managed to weather the storm of HMV and their ilk taking over have managed to do well in the subsequent years because they sell curation and expertise; you trust that someone working in (or running, especially) one of those shops knows their shit, and if you become a regular they might put things aside for you, recommend a record they think you'd like, or even if you've never spoken to them before, you can still get a sense of the kind of stuff they stock, and get a feel for what you're likely to get from them.

I'm convinced that's the future of retail in general. We get all these headlines about the "death of the high street", when what they mean is the death of massive brands buying up shop space in every town in the country, operating on the narrowest of margins, trying to be all things to all men. When, realistically, that in itself is a relatively short-lived phenomenon. Curation and expertise are what shops can still offer that big online stores can't.

@tiger_rick - funny you should mention that, as my last big record buying spree was at Spin It in Trinity Market. It's a big space, but effectively a market stall that presumably has far lower overheads that a dedicated shop would do. I bought a pretty random assortment of stuff - an obscure Bowie single, a psychobilly EP, and an unaccompanied folk singing LP - which got the bloke running the place talking, recommending stuff, and then knocking a few quid off the price for me. 

[Carbomb]

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

I'm convinced that's the future of retail in general. We get all these headlines about the "death of the high street", when what they mean is the death of massive brands buying up shop space in every town in the country, operating on the narrowest of margins, trying to be all things to all men. When, realistically, that in itself is a relatively short-lived phenomenon. Curation and expertise are what shops can still offer that big online stores can't.

I'd like to think so. For curation, our little bookshop is up against Goodreads. But I think it's part of a broader desire, which is that of connection - it's easier to meet up and chat with people who share (or don't share) your taste in books via a local bookshop, especially one that arranges groups and events, like ours does. The two main book groups we host have been going longer than our shop.

Also, something I've come to understand is that people who care about books and reading in general want to support local bookshops, and want to deny Amazon their book business, especially with how much of a walloper Bezos has been. I sell books for the shop every month at the Super-Relaxed Fantasy Club, a fantasy/sci-fi enthusiasts' event in Kings Cross where authors discuss and promote their latest publications, and I frequently hear from the organisers and the attendees that they would much rather give us their business than go to Amazon.

We also do a good line in "Amazon Sucks - support your local bookshop" tote bags and mugs, which usually sell out quickly.

[Chris B]

Honestly, the co-op model is absolutely worth looking at and considering if you want things to exist in your area. It's fucking terrifying at times, I won't lie - while we've created a space, if we weren't mostly volunteer-led, we'd have gone under years ago. But we've created something that actually exists and is feeding a need that people in the area have. We're as much an arts space as we are a bookshop, but that means we're actually creating stuff and giving a space for people to network and create stuff.

*cough* including the reading of my new play this Saturday, for anyone London-based - it's about Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, and it's just by Turnpike Lane tube station *cough*

In terms of my own dream job, it's a mixture of writing and filmmaking. I have been doing stuff, but not making money from it yet. Trying to crack that over the next couple of years, which is part of why I went freelance. Which is also fucking terrifying at times, but my mental health has definitely seen an improvement for it.

[I Bent My Wookie]

Picked a seasonal job up this week. Minimum 40 hours a week, rent is 68 quid a week don't plan to go out spend money etc. 

Has turned into my dream. A sandwich stall, Scran, that everyone I've spoke to and shown budgets of should now open in 2027 in my local market. Friends want to get involved, just amazing I was a week away from leaving here as nothing was left and suddenly my entire future is getting planned out. 

[Chris B]

That's honestly a great name for a sandwich stall.

[Arch Stanton]

I saw a pic on social media a while back of a takeaway called Only Scrans, which popped me.

[HarmonicGenerator]

4 hours ago, BomberPat said:

Obviously it's tough in retail at the moment, thanks to rent, business rates, cost of living, all the usual bullshit, but there's a reason that record shops are generally one of the things to have bucked the trend of decline in physical shops.

The received wisdom for years was that Amazon would kill bricks and mortar book and record shops because they could offer greater choice, but actually, choice isn't always what people want, it can be paralysing. The shops that Amazon ended up impacting more were the likes of HMV and Virgin Megastore, because what they offered was greater choice than smaller stores, but they couldn't compete on that field with Amazon. But a lot of the smaller shops that managed to weather the storm of HMV and their ilk taking over have managed to do well in the subsequent years because they sell curation and expertise; you trust that someone working in (or running, especially) one of those shops knows their shit, and if you become a regular they might put things aside for you, recommend a record they think you'd like, or even if you've never spoken to them before, you can still get a sense of the kind of stuff they stock, and get a feel for what you're likely to get from them.

I'm convinced that's the future of retail in general. We get all these headlines about the "death of the high street", when what they mean is the death of massive brands buying up shop space in every town in the country, operating on the narrowest of margins, trying to be all things to all men. When, realistically, that in itself is a relatively short-lived phenomenon. Curation and expertise are what shops can still offer that big online stores can't.

@tiger_rick - funny you should mention that, as my last big record buying spree was at Spin It in Trinity Market. It's a big space, but effectively a market stall that presumably has far lower overheads that a dedicated shop would do. I bought a pretty random assortment of stuff - an obscure Bowie single, a psychobilly EP, and an unaccompanied folk singing LP - which got the bloke running the place talking, recommending stuff, and then knocking a few quid off the price for me. 

Food historian Annie Gray wrote a great book a few years ago about the history of the high street, it’s a really interesting read and she’s got good ideas about how things stand currently.

I’d add myself to the “book shop” dream job list (co-run with my wife; specialising in history and historical fiction; bakery section; cats welcome; we won big on the lottery or something so don’t have to worry about profit) but the more I think about it the more I can’t be dealing with people and the more I just start evoking Dylan Moran in Black Books.

 

For not necessarily dream job but dream location in which to have a job, the Pixar campus always looked like the most exciting and creative workplace. And Lasseter’s not there now so hopefully no remaining creeps on the ‘brain trust’.

And then I remembered that Lucasfilm employ Leland Chee as the “Holocron Keeper”, ie the person whose job it is to know and record everything about Star Wars, and I’d quite like that one.

That then led my thoughts to the fact that while loads of archive and museum work can be quite admin heavy and less exciting than people hope, working with a collection like the WWE Warehouse or the Walt Disney Archives or Historic Royal Palaces (without having to move to London) would be pretty fun.

In conclusion, some form of all of the above please. With cats.

[SuperBacon]

30 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

And then I remembered that Lucasfilm employ Leland Chee as the “Holocron Keeper”, ie the person whose job it is to know and record everything about Star Wars, and I’d quite like that one.

I reckon I'd be good at doing this for It's Always Sunny. The Gang Gets Chronological.

[Cannibal Man]

the talk of video shops reminded me the one round the corner from school was half joke shop for a while and sold novelty joke biros made to look like needles full of smack or blood but needles still. My mate bought one, showed it immediately to his brother when we got back to his house who burst out laughing and ran into the living room with it and went MUM, DAD, GET ON THIS or something like that and they both completely shit themselves going NOOO ARE YOU FUCKING MAD and ran at him as he shoved it into his arm and went YEEEES. Anyway, it worked out in the end for everyone. 

[Gus Mears]

I want to open a loss making bar that's full of individual hammocks and TVs with all of the sport on. It's direct order to hammock service only and if you try and talk to anyone you don't know then you're immediately barred.

Edited February 26 by Gus Mears

[SuperBacon]

1 minute ago, Gus Mears said:

if you try and talk to anyone you don't know then you're immediately barred.

Big fan of that.

[I Bent My Wookie]

8 hours ago, Ralphy said:

 

Always found whatever jobs I've had difficult mostly due to my Autism and ADHD

 

When did you get diagnosed fella? I know my first 12 months post diagnosis was really tough but through working with my doctors and MH team I got myself into a routine that helped me massively