The Unmade Podcast - Emergency Episode: End of an Era?

Episode Date: March 27, 2019

Tim calls Brady with some news from Down Under. Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/unmadeFM Join the discussion of this episode on our subreddit - https://redd.it/b66po1 USEFUL LINKS Tim's picture - https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5990824849fc2b4c4fe4211b/t/5c9ba7c11905f43b28f853f1/1553704905167/IMG_1494.jpeg

Are you able to pull over? I think if you're like actually driving, we might get in trouble. I think I better pull over, actually. Can you hear me okay? I can hear you. I can hear you well. We didn't think we'd be back on the Unmade podcast so soon after the previous episode, but we have our first ever emergency podcast breaking news because I woke up this morning to a photo that Tim had sent me overnight from Australia that well it's pretty big news very big news in the world of the Unmade podcast. Tim do

you want to tell me what you saw and what's going on? Well this afternoon I had to head down to a particular shop to grab a new head for a new vacuum cleaner. And I looked across at the shop next door. Yes. Was about to give my usual little nod salute to the sofa shop. The sofa shop, yeah, come and drop in. And I noticed that there is a sign underneath it saying that it's closing down because the owner is retiring. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

I mean, I don't know if this is... I haven't seen it in the paper. I haven't seen it on the internet. I had to drive past to find out for myself. And I just wonder, gosh, how many people are aware of what's been going on? I mean, what is going on? I mean, maybe it's been lost because of all the Brexit and Mueller report stuff, but I thought this would be a bigger story

than Brexit or the Mueller report. So yeah, look, I need to find out more. Basically, we have to look into what the circumstances are. Is it just this shop or is it all sofa shops? The fact though that it's referring to the owner retiring indicates that maybe it's the brand as a whole. But then has he anointed a successor? Is there another shop we should be looking at now instead of the sofa shop? The thing is, how come the owner retiring? I mean, wouldn't he pass it on to his kids or sell it?

There are only two sofa shops, aren't there? There's just two branches of this iconic chain. It says, closing down, owners retiring. And you have to wonder, has he not appointed an internal successor to take over the mantle? The prince to take the crown. That's right. That's right. To sit on the throne, the comfy throne. You could put your hand up for this one, Tim.

Well, that would be – I mean, I wouldn't want to speculate at this early stage before we even really know what's going on i do have to say tim like the reason i want you to go and visit on the weekend and find out more is places that sell sofas are notorious for leveraging the idea of closing down and stock clearances to sell sofas and i'm wondering whether or not this is just closing down, but Sofa Shop Mark II will be opening the day after this supposed closing down sale. I want to know, is the Sofa Shop brand truly being retired? I don't know.

I mean, you're right. It is, I mean, second only to carpet retailers. Yeah. Matt's Sofa Retail is notorious for the, what do you call, the false dawn, really, of the closing down. That's maybe why they've added on that extra detail down the bottom that owners retiring. Yeah, add a bit of legitimacy. Like, this is, you know, we're not the sofa shop that cried wolf. We really are closing down.

Yeah. But, you know, like, I the sofa shop that cried wolf. We really are closing down. Yeah. But, you know, like, I mean, Apple continued, didn't it? It moved on to Tim Cook and a new generation. And you just have to wonder what the board are thinking, whether they haven't been planning for this for some time or whether there's not another generation. Who knows? So many questions at this stage.

I have no idea what's going to happen to their share price. Their share price. Their chair price. Tim, there's just two other things I want to point out. The first one is I was having a closer look at the photo you sent, and I will share this photo in our show notes. And I'd noticed in very fine print under SofaShop, they have like a logo or like a logo or like a slogan i should say and it says comfort solutions since 1980 and i'm so disappointed that an old school

retailer like the sofa shop will have fallen into the trap of using solutions comfort solutions i know is that what we call sofas now? A comfort solution? That's right. You can tell. I mean, this is maybe contributing maybe to why they've hit a point where he feels he needs to retire. They've obviously had some sort of consultant in, and that's been bad news. They've probably got a whiz-bang mission statement, and they've got words like solutions. They've obviously tried to innovate. let's be honest sofa doesn't need a lot of innovation does it no it doesn't it uh it's just a it is a solution it's a it's a it's a sofa uh and it's a shop that sells sofas it's a social shop so it doesn't need any any whiz-bang whiteboarded ideas it It does what it says on the tin, the sofa shop,

more than almost any other shop I've ever known. Well, maybe not for long. We'll have to find out. Did you not give any thought to how you were going to break this news to me? You just sent me the photo with end of an era written underneath. Well, I sent it as quick as I could. I know, but I know. I'm your sofa shop deep throat i've sent this to you

you're my um guide the washington post what's his name woodward and bernstein yeah woodward that's the one i'm thinking of yeah you're my woodward tim you're you are to be the woodward and bernstein i need you to go and investigate and the third thing we need to find out, we need to find out everything. You need to really interrogate this place and find out what's going on. Try and get the details of the owner. We'll try and get him on the show. Yeah.

But also, most importantly, I mean, the reason we love the sofa shop is because of their jingle, which I'm sure everyone knows by now. And if they don't, they're about to hear it again. The Sofa Shop is your only stop for the sofa you need. The Sofa Shop, yeah, come and drop in. We have a sofa designed for you. Choose your fabric, match your curtains too.

The Sofa Shop ain't gonna cost what you think it will. What's going to happen with that? What's happening with rights to the music? Yeah, yeah. I mean, who knows what could happen? If it entered into public domain, there could be all sorts of dance remixes happening willy-nilly. domain there could be all sorts of dance remixes happening you know willy-nilly and um it's the sort of thing you want to control and uh you want to you want to keep pretty precious it's like green sleeves it in one sense it belongs to everyone but you can't have some sort of oh a happy birthday we've actually thought about singing the sofa shop jingle on our birthdays

so i've heard people do that i mean i i i am almost getting the impression that you would be opposed to a dance mix of the sofa shop is that true no that's what i'm saying oh it is yes no i would be uh i don't think that's that's appropriate but it's a uh it's the sort of thing that can happen things things um when you don't take care of your copyright. So we'd like to know what goes on. Is he going to sell the rights? Because that's obviously something we'd be interested in as a venture. And the other thing...

More so than the sofas. More so than the sofas. See, this is his problem. He's focused on the sofas, not the jingle. The jingle is where the money is, I think. That's the real asset. I wonder if he's closing this year or if he's waiting until 2020. Having started in 80, it'd be nice and round 40 years to go to the 2020.

You'd like to think that he'd hold out for a few more months to the end of the year. But the sign's up now. That's why I wanted to let you know now and why we wanted to it out there um before anyone else uh jumped on the story all right well thanks for thanks for on your drive home in the middle of the night after a late night at work for phoning this one in oh pleasure well stay tuned there'll be more updates very soon but in the meantime make sure you don't do a thing until you've seen the sofa shop don't you do a thing until you've seen the sofa shop.