MacBook Pro $1,399 purchased at MacEast
6 percent profit (approx. $100)
$10 Pure Profit
Mortgage on the space
Condo fees
Utilities
Staff x3: sales, technician and sales/management
MacBook Pro $1,300 purchased at apple.com
$100 Leaves the province
MAC EAST SUPPLIERS
Apple is the biggest supplier: 65 percent warehoused in Toronto, 35
percent is warehoused in Bayers Lake (at a third party wholesaler,
Synnex). Another 15 percent comes from a local PC supply store
(Comtronic Computers, which supplies only other businesses) when
cross-platfrom items are required, such as USB or flash drives, mouses
or keyboards. “We will pay a little bit more if they have it, just
because they’re local,” says Ring. “Because our courier charges are way
less and our turnaround time is nil. It’s like having my own warehouse.
Usually they’re very competitive.”
OVERVIEW
“You gotta remember,” says Ring, having provided details of expenses
versus profits on one of his most popular store items, “We don’t make
six percent on everything. If you started working the numbers you’d be
like, ‘How does Barry stay in business?’ Other items are more
profitable. And our other biggest thing is service. It’s necessary to
give our customer the full treatment. In other words, they come in,
they buy, and they don’t have to worry about the purchase. We take care
of them. They can always call us and ask us questions, we’ll talk to
them, we’re not going to nickel-and-dime them.”
This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2009.
