Thread: MIK Adelaide in receivership

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

I never learn, do I?

Seems not !


Ross

Actually, Ross, it worked. Those of us who are not "bitter and twisted" had a bit of fun and now the discussion is back to the point. Mission accomplished.

Good News! Mik Sydney is going strongly. Jason said today that the failure of Mik Adelaide may result in some minor changes to operation of his shop at Emu Plains, Sydney, otherwise it is business as usual.

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

Actually, Ross, it worked. Those of us who are not "bitter and twisted" had a bit of fun and now the discussion is back to the point. Mission accomplished.

Well there are at least 2 types of people !
Those who know themselves to be "Bitter and twisted"
And those who do an excellent job looking like they are but claim not to be!
I know which I am .
I do suppose there are a few souls out there that are as happy as a pig in ???? but I have always held the deepest suspicions about them too.

Ross

I always had good service from Mik and prompt responses from Michael.

Pity they've gone down the tube ... but maybe not surprising as they operated at the quality end of the market, and with online shops all over and the Aussie dollar having crept up re the USD, it's now a global market.

Originally Posted by Different

Time for a Rant I think!
Time to open old wounds and do some Spleen venting!

When ever I open this can of worms I hear the all too often explanations that "I aint rich like you and need to get the most bang for my buck" or somesuch, but the point is that by shopping at these sorts of places you are slowly driving low quality mild steel nails into the Radiata Pine Coffin of businesses like MIK and others with your cheap chinese claw hammer.
Yes of course you can shop where you want but sooner or later there will be no choice where you can go to shop!

As to the slow and steady decline in our furniture industry of which I am a good example (despite my good humour and knockout looks) that i'm afraid is a symptom of the times. Fact is I know dozens of people who think nothing of spending $100'000 on a car (My broker just spent $140'000) g can it take to glue a few pieces of wood together?" No supprise to me why it is all turning to S#@T!

Ross
Bitter and Twisted

???whats a broker , different ?
are they one of those people that bought a piece years ago and bring it back and say "I broker" and expect you to fix it

in answer to your rant,
I agree,
Australia, (like every other western country) is quickly losing it's mass manufacturing base,
the first businesses to go down are those that attempt to compete
with cheap imported items,
in the last 5 years the quality of imported items has increased substantially
( just look at chinese tools)

I 'm not happy with whats happening, but it's happening, and don't think for a minute that we can stop it,
the imported products are getting better and better,

talented designer/makers all over the world are taking their designs to china to be manufactured and are making sure that the quality is
maintained

the chinese manufacturers are starting to realise the premium prices available for a quality item and are catering to that market
albeit with ferociously discounted labour costs,
we cannot compete,

Damn it!

I need some new scrapers and bits and pieces!

Anyone know of any others in SA that stock similar items that mik did?

RGM

Being in small business, although in a different field to woodworking supplies. I do not want to be the one to tell you what you might have to do.

Manufacturing in OZ is f####d and until the pollies in Canberra address this then we will have noone available to actually create or build something.

At present our economy is based on the mining industry and the paper shufflers.

At last count there are more Lawyers and Accountants in Jail then Carpenters and woodworkers.

I don't know whether to feel guilty.

By preference, I buy woodworking stuff from overseas. Not because I get lower prices (althought that can be a bonus if the freight isn't too expensive), but because I don't get raped by greedy local suppliers with questionable stocking policies.

I've found some local retailers I feel OK buying from, but my experiences with places like Mik and Carbatec have been uniformly awful. I tried to spend several thousand dollars with Mik last year, but their repeated delays in supplying items meant that I eventually cancelled my orders. Similar experience with Carbatec - I simply don't feel confident that I'll place an order and get the goods in a few days.

I've had good dealings with Timbecon, but it usually takes a phone call or two to verify stock before I can place an order. There's another thread that talks about Timbecon's crappy web site - I'd really like to know why local vendors can't show stock availability and save me the cost and effort of calling them.

If I buy from Lee Valley, or from Rockler, I'm entirely confident that my stuff will be on my front door within 5 days. Often I'll save money. But even if I don't, the emotional experience of buying is one of satisfaction, not fear.

That's the lesson local retailers need to learn ... don't make your customer afraid to do business with you.

I've been keeping my ear to the ground, and what I hear (and as I blogged on Stu's Shed), is there is (almost) certainly going to be an Adelaide Carbatec, and in as little as 6 - 8 weeks.

I don't think it is locked in concrete as yet, but from what I hear, I'll be very very surprised if it doesn't actually happen.

Do you mean that Carbatec is taking over the Magill St site, Stu?

From what I heard (little birdie, chirp chirp!) the location / site at this stage is completely up in the air - they would look for a building / location that is most suitable to them. It might be the previous MIK site, it might be somewhere completely different. Guess that will all be part of the negotiations / decision process whether the new store will happen or not.

If it does, my opinion is that it will have no influence from MIK's previous existence, stock, location etc. That there is a hole in the marketplace now begging to be filled is probably the only related fact.

That would be good I use Carbatec quite a lot.

I dont think the MIK site would be big enough for the whole of carba's range?
Its a small shop area, I havent been out the back tho.