Are cues selling like they used to?

[Leo]

I can give you a little insight to how Green Baize Ltd is going ... and the trends in sale and direction we have been required to move in.
Green Baize is a small set up ( specialist business ) as I'm sure many of you will know. Myself ( Stu Green ) and Max Craggs run the business, Max has been working with me full time for 18 months now.
Green Baize was set up as a company 12 years ago ( I traded as Classic Cues for about 8 years as a part time venture before Green Baize ) we originally had 3 small rooms in a corner of a snooker centre which I stayed in for about 10 years, 2 years ago the business had out grown the space I occupied so I moved the shop to a 1200 sq ft room 2 years ago, since moving the shop to a bigger shop / showroom we have just about doubled the yearly turn over.
Green Baize is growing year after year and to some extent we are holding it back from growing much bigger ( I don't want to break what we have )
The price range of cues we stock has changed in the last few years, to be fair cue prices / production costs have gone up, but we have found the need to stock more better quality cues.
From our point of view... I'd say 10 years ago players wanted to spend was £50 - £120.00 for a cue, with players wanting a decent cue happy to spend £150.00 - £300.00. Now that price has change to £100.00 - £250.00 for most players, with players wanting something a bit better wanting to spend £250.00 - £500.00. Attitudes towards buying a cue have change a lot for lots of reasons.
Players who just want a cue and anything will do will buy off ebay or a sport shop, people who do a bit of homework will come to places like ours and Craftsman cues.
I still think that players who have cues custom made to order are missing out on finding a suitable playing cue for themselves, loads of players are happy with custom made to order cues but that's because they've not tried out a selection of cues to see if something else plays better. ( Individual preferences and feel vary )
Got to go times ran out

Have fun and enjoy ! the world championships starts tomorrow. .....

Agreed, some people wait months or even years for a cue to be made when there's so many hidden gems out there that will match the majority of people's specs, but I guess getting a cue within a couple of days and they have a heart condition will most probably come as a shock to many people.

[DeanH]

thanks Stu for the insight, to the retail side of the sport.
The prices seem to be within inflation across the years so nothing unusual there.
With the expansion of knowledge (i.e. internet) the players are looking a little more into their choice of cue before buying; when in the pre-internet days you went to the high street shop or the club and see what they had in stock, relying on others' choice than your own as to the range available.

[Neil Taperell]

Agreed, I've said many times on here that UK cuemakers whomworks on their own don't earn as much as people think. I'm sure it's a hard and sometimes mentally challenging job that at times I bet they want to pick up a cue and knock it through a customers jaw.

Which is why they go down the Thai route and churn out cues much quicker , in order to make a decent profit in a short space of time .

[ADR147]

are you sure will hunt pays vat - i would be amazed if any cue maker other than parris and was vat registered.

[Leo]

are you sure will hunt pays vat - i would be amazed if any cue maker other than parris and was vat registered.

defiantly sure

[ADR147]

defiantly sure

you have the number?

[Leo]

you have the number?

Here you go 111408564

[ADR147]

Here you go 111408564

well i would never have imagined he would be selling enough. good luck to him.

[Neil Taperell]

Assume his name is treated with God like status in the Far East [ due to H & O ] , which is where most of his cues go presumably . After flying half way round the world and back !

[trevs1]

Do you think the market is dead?

Is any cue worth over 500 pounds?

Can you get a good quality playing cue for less than 300 now?

Have certain brands gone past their worth?

Is there too much competition and does that drive down price?

Does everyone have enough cues now?

Is it better to try before you buy and where do you buy?

Do people like to try different makers?

Are you still looking for the one?

Do I ask too many questions?

What came first chicken - egg?

Answer for me are....

No.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

No.

No.

Yes.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

Egg.

[trevs1]

well i would never have imagined he would be selling enough. good luck to him.

Being VAT registered does not necessarily mean he turns over above the threshold though.

Someone earning £15K a year can be VAT registered if they so choose, but when turnover reaches above the threshold, the "choice" side of it is removed and you are obliged by HMRC to be registered.

I know people who are VAT regsitered but do not get near the threshold.

[Byrom]

That's interesting - so in summary Trevor's still busy so much so he does not play any more or want to - he thinks some cues are worth over 500 but you can get good ones for a lot less, he thinks its better to try before you buy and certain brands have gone past their worth - He does not elaborate much - I ask too many questions and the egg came first.

Oh and by law Scottish people don't pay tuition fees, prescription charges, VAT, Tax, and they get natural spring water Haggis and whiskey for free on the NHS

[trevs1]

That's interesting - so in summary Trevor's still busy so much so he does not play any more or want to - he thinks some cues are worth over 500 but you can get good ones for a lot less, he thinks its better to try before you buy and certain brands have gone past their worth - He does not elaborate much - I ask too many questions and the egg came first.

Oh and by law Scottish people don't pay tuition fees, prescription charges, VAT, Tax, and they get natural spring water Haggis and whiskey for free on the NHS

For the Welsh, we get free singing lessons from the government, free leeks from the foodbank and the NHS provides us with free meds for all the diseases we catch from spending too much "special time" with the sheep.

[Byrom]

For the Welsh, we get free singing lessons from the government, free leeks from the foodbank and the NHS provides us with free meds for all the diseases we catch from spending too much "special time" with the sheep.

[trevs1]

You gotta understand with sheep that no means no.