I ran out of K&N filter oil, and thought I might have another box in the back of the garage. It had a lot of dust on it. And under the lid of the box was an invitation to write away for a catalog. Hmm, when did website addresses become commonplace on packaging?
The sticker on the side was for "Young's Speed Shop", so I googled it. Looks like I must have bought it before I left Ottawa, so it's at least 15 years old. But that's not a big deal.
It was the shop. I honestly don't remember going in, but it was apparently an Ottawa source for speed equipment for decades. It shut down about a year ago, probably a victim of ridiculous property values in the area.
RIP Young's.
I've just been looking for info on Youngs, and found reference in a book to a car they built in 1952. So the shop was around for more than 60 years.
yes, it's a shame. The one speed shop around here finally closed after limping along trying to sell ricey stuff to the kids. They used to have nice stuff.. but the serious guys went away and they snatched at the low hanging fruit... and eventually even that disappeared
Visited Young's several times many years ago.... Hadn't been to that part of town for a while until earlier this spring and saw that the business had closed.
I suspect the close proximity of Odgensburg NY (1 hour drive) and EBay had an effect on their sales.
It'll keep happening. It starts with the weak, proceeds to the barely making it, then the up and comer with a loan, next is the young guy, finally the old rock. It's what Walmart/Amazon/Costco/discount tire direct are doing.
Look, I buy performance from Amazon. Money talks. But Amazon can't tell me all the R&D someone like Keith has done. Kieth can even customize things for people with miatas. In this day and age, if you wanna beat the machine, you gotta sell something they can't. Kits, work arounds, obsolete parts, custom fab.
Trackmouse wrote:
It'll keep happening. It starts with the weak, proceeds to the barely making it, then the up and comer with a loan, next is the young guy, finally the old rock. It's what Walmart/Amazon/Costco/discount tire direct are doing.
Look, I buy performance from Amazon. Money talks. But Amazon can't tell me all the R&D someone like Keith has done. Kieth can even customize things for people with miatas. In this day and age, if you wanna beat the machine, you gotta sell something they can't. Kits, work arounds, obsolete parts, custom fab.
Yep, you've got to stay on the leading edge. Design new parts, and if they're popular enough, they'll get knocked off. It just happens. If your business depends on selling those parts forever, it's going to get rough. But if you've already moved on to solving the next problem, you can shake it off and keep moving.
As much as I'd love to blame the internet for their demise, the price of real estate in that area has gone completely berzerk. Remember the ramp up to the housing crash in the US in 2008? Canada never stopped. When I bought that K&N filter kit from Young's, the average home value in Ottawa was about $140k. Now it's around $380k.
I'm sure that didn't help with the decision to stay open.
unevolved wrote:
Trackmouse wrote:
It'll keep happening. It starts with the weak, proceeds to the barely making it, then the up and comer with a loan, next is the young guy, finally the old rock. It's what Walmart/Amazon/Costco/discount tire direct are doing.
Look, I buy performance from Amazon. Money talks. But Amazon can't tell me all the R&D someone like Keith has done. Kieth can even customize things for people with miatas. In this day and age, if you wanna beat the machine, you gotta sell something they can't. Kits, work arounds, obsolete parts, custom fab.
Yep, you've got to stay on the leading edge. Design new parts, and if they're popular enough, they'll get knocked off. It just happens. If your business depends on selling those parts forever, it's going to get rough. But if you've already moved on to solving the next problem, you can shake it off and keep moving.
And this is why R&D is a massive investment. If only customers understood that and didn't just bitch that something costs more than 2% more than the value of the raw materials.
Kieth... agree that real estate prices have skyrocketed, but at the same time if the clients are shopping elsewhere it makes it doubly hard for the small guy to make a living.
Young's was a single guy operation and I suspect that when he was ready for retirement the land was his pension plan.
