FCP is Changing
A lot of people don’t know it, but FCP has been operating continuously for over 13 years, ten of those years in Stratford and eight of those ten at our current location at 121 Ontario Street on the main floor. In fact, I believe there is only one other computer shop in town which has been running for longer.
But you can’t roll along for eight years in the computer industry without some kind of change. Change is a constant in this line of work and if you are unwilling to change, after a while you won’t be able to provide your customers with a good product.
So while we’ve all grown fond of our current location, the time has come to get better digs in order to serve our customers better. So we are moving… but only about thirty feet. Our new location will still be at 121 Ontario Street, just up the stairs at the front. The location is bigger and quieter; moving also gives us the opportunity to redesign the layout of the shop to make it more efficient in a location which is better suited to our needs. It’s also curiously decorated, what with having been a clothing store once.
Moving the shop is part of a larger change to how we do business at FCP. The demand for service work is increasing while at the same time the demand for retail is declining. Once upon a time, the only place to get computer hardware was at a dedicated computer shop and there was easy money to be made from retail. Those days are long over. The Internet, big box stores and the like do a better job of serving the retail market and can provide a better selection of retail goodies then we ever could.
So, as of the first of January, all retail operations will stop and the shop will be moved up the stairs. No attempt will be made to staff the new shop at regular hours like a retail store and appointments will become standard practice. As always, you are welcome to stop by if you like, but honestly, we would recommend a phone call first so you’re not disappointed.
If you are an existing business customer the change won’t affect you as on-site will continue as usual. Home customers looking for affordable in-shop repair will need only to make appointments to drop off their systems, or if desired, schedule a pickup. If you are a bit leery of going up stairs with a big, heavy computer we’re more than happy to come down and take it up for you.
Loyal customers who have purchased all their hardware from us and want to keep on purchasing their hardware from us also needn’t worry. We’re still selling hardware, just without all the show. Our hardware focus will now be on professional deployments, rather than over the counter stuff (although we’ll still have some of that too). The Computer Systems Division will be moving away from inexpensive package designs in favour of more flexible and robust custom builds. Anyone who deals with us on a regular basis knows hardware has been moving in this direction for years — now it is official.
We’re offering some new services:
- Pickup ($5) and delivery ($5) services
- Periodic maintenance contracts
- Computer recycling services, which in most cases will be free
- IT and Internet strategy consulting services
- IT security consulting services
In a way, we are going back to our roots. FCP started in a basement before it was moved to a tiny office on the second floor of a Waterloo St. property. Our eight year experiment with having a storefront has been fun but the time is right to move forward. Making this change makes us more flexible, more nimble and better equipped to keep the computers running which is what the computer service business is all about.
