WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING A TENNIS STORE

[@dasuprememusic9756]

SO DOPE OF YOU TO DO THIS...A lot of people in your position would just keep all this information to themselves. So selfless and always willing to help. Glad to be a subscriber!

[@pl4851]

Ready to open an east coast shop with you in FL :)

[@ericsukmana5013]

Hi from Indonesia. Love all of your videos and still watching. This is so satisfying. Answered all of my questions. Thank you very much!

[@jonathanp639]

Questions. How do you acquire inventory directly from retailer? Do i have to apply? Do I need to open a store and then apply what are the requirements to become dealers from brands such as Wilson, babolat and head?

[@alro1969]

This is a great question. I wish it was answered 😪 😭

[@jjeerryy82]

cool video!! zero intention of opening a store but just seeing how awesome of a guy you are for helping others!!

[@turanovs]

Great video Harry, thank you. I am already doing stringing, gripping and flipping used racquets from my home. This vid is an inspiration for me to go things further in the near future. Thank you again Harry for a great video.

[@santiagosalcedo7956]

If you are already stringing you have the 75% of the work resolved because you already have customers.

[@svlagonda7417]

Great video. Really interesting! Didn't realise it was so expensive to start up a tennis shop. Wish you all the best!

[@virtualyme7659]

I've considered having a shop. Money is definitely the challenge for starting up. I suppose my dream would be to have a shop plus ancillary businesses that compliment each other and make it more like a tennis destination with courts and everything. Since money is the hang up I imagine I'll have to start small. Not that I'm against that either. I've been passionate about tennis for a long time. I've taught tennis and enjoy that but I'm wanting to branch into other options. I'm getting older now and by years end I'll be 54. I've never been able to just do tennis all the time and always had another job but I would like to make all my work revolve around tennis. I've had some injuries in recent years and father time has taken its toll as well and I can't do what I used to. Currently there is no dedicated tennis shop where I am. There is a big chain sporting goods store with some tennis gear and a stringer but that's the only competition in the area for maybe 40-60 miles. I envision a small shop close to the best tennis facility in town but I'm sceptical about the location. I suppose that is something I was surprised to hear you say that location was not as important as the destination. I agree with the idea of that considering everyone I have known went to one stinger and it wasn't the big chain store. It was an elderly fellow well known in the tennis community who worked out of his house. He had a few items for sale and would even demo and sell some frames. He however is very old now and just can't do what he used to do either. With this in mind I want to fill that void but have a storefront and a bit more to offer. I feel like the right location for me might be more critical than my old friend because he's had 40+ years to build his recognition and I won't have the visibility of a big chain sporting goods store. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. ☮️

[@Raidersscm]

Hi Maybe you could help the guy working in his house and get information from him in that way while looking for your place. And when you find a place you like maybe he(the person working from home) could help you. Good luck.

[@virtualyme7659]

@@Raidersscm Thanks. I am friends with him and perhaps if we would have embarked on such a venture years ago I would be in a different situation. He is not working anymore and is in his 90s now. If he was still working I would like very much to collaborate. I fortunately still call him friend and he is supportive of me.

[@markhansen9731]

Bravo. Community building and tennis too.

[@newbnation3147]

I love watching you're videos keep up the good work😁

[@pierredaher9590]

I admire your sincerity and honesty, superb video! Merci beaucoup.

[@venureddy2550]

Oh..it is Brad Gilbert Tennis Nation store..nice!

[@cimarron18]

Keep up with your honesty..thank you.

[@Saheb0877]

how to learn stringing...? and what type of stringing machine is best and which one do you use...? Thanks..

[@abiodun5823]

Love Love 🎉

[@TrentG23]

The intro music is such a nostalgic sound

[@alro1969]

QUESTION: how do you get the equipment, the racquets and shoes specifically?

[@kaneyanagawa]

Great topic! Good story about your 6.1 95 client. I have a similar problem in that I’ve played with the K-factor 6.1 tour 90 (340g) since its release. I play at a 4.5 - 5.0 level mostly with college students at the university I work at, but in the past couple years (I’m 42 now) I have been experimenting with various “modern” players’ frames to make up for my loss of foot speed. To date I have not been able to find a racket that gives me as much control, stability, and power as my K-factor rackets, but most importantly is the lack of sensation for where the weight/strike point is during the stroke. When I swing my tour 90s the sensation is like swinging a baseball batt where the location of the weight on swing is the same distance from my hand as where I want to make contact with the ball. I haven’t hit with any rackets recently that give me this direct feedback, and it frustrates me that when I swing them there is a vagueness about where the contact point is. Is there a way to customize a “modern” frame to bring that sensation back? Follow is a list of rackets I tried in the past couple years: (Wilson- PS97, PS97rf, Burn95, Blade 16x19) (Babolat- PS 16x19, PDtour) (Head- Radical Pro, Prestige Pro) (Yonex Vcore 98, Vcore Pro 330, Ezone98). Thanks, and keep up the great work!

[@kaneyanagawa]

Of the modern Wilson rackets the Burn felt the best, of the Babolats the PS 16x19, Head all felt flimsy, Yonex Vcore Pro 330 was ok but lacked power and stability at the top of the frame.

[@viktorbenedek868]

No new racquets can compare to the older, heavier ones. The feel of weight+small head does not really exist in today's modern racquets. You have to change your tennis with modern racquets, or stick to your old ones. :) If Roger could change, you can as well. :)

[@FaisalKhan-zx5pz]

Great video. Where do you buy your inventory.

[@LarzB]

I learnt to string by watching a KZbin video and with my drop weight second hand string machine which i had to fix first for it to work, my first string job took me 1,5 hrs. With the labour intensive manual machine i have i have cut it down to 40 minutes. But i only string for myself and my daughter. But to go back to the topic. Online stores generally compete in price as most of the tennis stuff is commonalities and online distant advise is more difficult. People who buy from online shops generally know what they want. People who don't know what they want it what their kid needs tend to go to a shop for the advice or the service.

[@miguelbarahona6636]

I´m a self stringer, I use a dropweight machine. My first string job took me over 2 hours (my machine didn´t came with the manual, and in 2007 there wasn´t any video in youtube). That first string job really was bad, I lost tension in every place possible. Now I´m an expert (almost), hahaha.

[@LarzB]

@@miguelbarahona6636 you have people who can themselves a certified stringer.. to be honest, it's very easy and straight forward and with youtube you can see a lot of different techniques of your interested in it. Whatever the machine, apart from the machine mechanics, it's just practice and common sense

[@johnhundsnurscher535]

Hello, do you sell the bumper guards for the Babolat Pure Drive VS? Thanks.

[@Multisportamateur]

Fastest I’ve ever strung a racquet was about 17mins! Yonex RDS001 mid-size. 16x18 with babolat addiction 16g.

[@chensien75]

By skipping strings

[@bowsershark]

Dang, you are a lightening fast stringer. That speed takes great weaving skills

[@Multisportamateur]

@@chensien75 You've obviously never strung a racquet before (let alone on an electronic stringer). It's also not possible to skip strings.

[@Multisportamateur]

@@bowsershark It depends on the racquet and string type. If you were to give me gut or poly, then that will be a different story.

[@chensien75]

@@Multisportamateur I do have an electronic stringer and yes you can skip strings by only putting tension on every other string. Being fast also means a crappy string job because a soft string like natural gut needs constant pull and prestretch.

[@ssenssel]

Me living in Brazil after watching this: Imma start a LLP real quick

[@eduardohuerta5460]

Tennis Warehouse and Tennis Express have a monopoly on internet sales. Impossible to compete against them in the US.

[@pl4851]

Very true..but the thing is that their customers are just a number to them....but the local shops, like Tennis Spin, they actually know your face, your names...to me that matters more...

[@davidpayumo23]

@@pl4851 My store in Toronto, Racquet Guys is a big Canadian store that sells a lot of racquets to Canada and USA. They were a brick and mortar store that added an Ebay store and a Canadian Amazon. It started as a pro shop in a city tennis center. One key to their success is they have older racquets. People will call them looking for older racquets. They have done well and are probably one of the biggest tennis stores in Canada.

[@svlagonda7417]

That's why I won't buy from them - I'd rather support local businesses and independents.

[@scottvanorden4445]

Add Midwest sport to that list. The big 3 in us.

[@FaisalKhan-zx5pz]

And after you are done competing with Tenniswarehouse, Tennis Express, and Midwest Sports, you got your local clubs. :(

[@GPFBL]

I’m in a smaller city in Alberta, Canada called Grande Prairie. I’m planning to start a smaller store for tennis, squash and pickle ball. I don’t have competitors except sports experts. I watch your video, but my concern is where do I buy my inventory? Please help.

[@lancefrederickzabala2477]

How and where do you buy racquets by bulk? Please teach me i am starting to open my own local shop in Asia.

[@malagabee]

Lol I can definitely relate to the wide feet. So far only can get into the 4E sizes in the New Balance shoes. Is there any other brands that come close to 4E??

[@superjinx]

Great advice and tips for the tennis world. When it comes to inventory, is it hard to get the best cost prices from the brands/distributors? Should retail prices be always discounted or kept strictly to SRP? Online pricing is another one that hits retail hard too.

[@ChaplainAsher]

Hello i am Asher, i planned to start a tennis store. My question is do you know where to buy tennis supplies with Wholsale price?

[@THEFITNESS411]

Good info. Thx.

[@2017Fed]

Do any companies offer consignment so you can put rackets and other products in your store without purchasing the inventory? I think that should cut down the start-up cost substantially. Also, do you spend money on e-marketing?

[@stockton350]

Hats off to brick and mortar shops, but between high rents, online competition the used racquet market, DIY stringers... Opening a store would be an uphill battle for sure.

[@where-we-roam]

I sourced sports apparel in Asia for US import for 16 years. A lot of brands don't think about the fact that many of their younger customers play sports for school and rec teams that already have school colors. Going neutral would be a much wiser decision. For example, who wants to wear Lilac shoes at a school that has Scarlet and Black as school colors? Instead, designers at these brands look at trends and decide to do whichever colors they think are going to be big for the year. Fashion trends don't work so well when you are buying for team sports... If you are just playing at your club/park, you can wear whatever you want. Matching school colors doesn't give you that same option.

[@oc_g2236]

At 10k subs do a no hat reveal

[@DanielTheBozo]

i like this idea better

[@kmcclarney]

Great video. May I add getting appropriate insurance. Liability and also insurance for covering inventory. Seen too many videos on the news recently about rioters stealing inventory and the owner had no insurance to cover it. It would be a huge downer to loose 150k in inventory and not have a way to cover that loss.

[@tonykenny9815]

Companies changing racquets very often so stock becomes obsolete very quickly.Online killing sales.In Europe most tennis stores closed.A very difficult retail area.

[@HongNguyen-my5oq]

Need to know if there is already a tennis store where you wants to open

[@ssportslivetvstreaming]

LOCATION IS VERY IMPORTANT !!!

[@miguelbarahona6636]

If you´re good, tennis players will go where you are.

[@goggleboy2464]

So does brad own the store or is it a franchise or what?

[@ThetennisDr]

can u help me start my own tennis shop.. i see a lot of need for a good reliable and fast stringing shop

[@erichuang2310]

If you carry Nike definitely have a large stock of wide shoes because the medium width is narrow.

[@RobsTennisVids]

Physical or online? It's not really a question. Most of the major manufacturers, who you absolutely must deal with, only allow online if you also have a physical store. Online only is not really an option.

[@Ringostarcrested]

Why LLP and not c corp or s corp??

[@ThetennisDr]

ho wdo we get a machine and the mechandise is what i want to know

[@slxwrxin]

online

[@RoPuffe]

I thought I was the only one from Chile watching!

[@redbullwiseman4805]

U did a wardrobe change after her question Why?

[@herusoesantogusti2218]

When will us see you playing tennis ? We are loyal subscribers from Indonesia

[@zabaftis]

+1 everyone wants to watch him playing some tennis at least!

[@sportscastercanada]

What you need to know: buy low, sell high!

[@66ott7]

you will need tennis rackets and tennis accessories.

[@AK-qo6tx]

Is this your store or Brad Gilbert's? Why is Brad Gilbert's name on the store?

[@AK-qo6tx]

@The Reversed Zebra Shriner the address in his about page has a Greenbrae address that matches Brad Gilbert store.

[@goggleboy2464]

Yeah I wonder if it's a franchise or did he buy it from brad.

[@oc_g2236]

I assume u are brad Gilbert?

[@itzfrederick1916]

What’s the name of your store anyways ? I really wanna give a visit to the guy who taught me a lot ahahah

[@javace79]

The name is on the left at the start of the video

[@goggleboy2464]

I saw I guy string a racket in 12 minutes. Unbelievable.

[@jayelm5392]

Les Pearl’s tennis locker was awesome back in the day in Des Moines, IA. Then it went away after a few years. Les got busted for dealing cocaine. He went to prison.

[@jackeddemon]

Glad to see you’re not wearing a stupid mask. Your store, your rules!

[@anbo1778]

Masks are necessary to prevent covid

[@cpgone]

agree

[@user-vk9uu1rz1k]

reet reet reet reeteman goes reet

[@chensien75]

Your overhead is too high, it’s better to start in your own garage first

[@sportscastercanada]

Does Elliott know aunt Becky? ROFL

[@Danny-cg8dj]

If you want to open a Tennis store, see a shrink! OR, give the money to your kids to "BLOW". You will save money in the long run!

[@shaniacsianne7711]

The garrulous copy finally sneeze because growth phytogeographically untidy worth a telling gymnast. elfin, ragged quiver

[@toddcuster3557]

You got a lot of time on your hands. So owning a tennis store when pickle ball is taking over seems a bit shortsighted. If you could make money off of lame videos about tennis stores, you could do well, but then you have to watch out for lame pickle ball video competition.