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My last telly came from Richer Sounds and I suspect the next one will too.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/14/richer-sounds-staff-julian-richer
Julian Richer will announce to staff on Tuesday that he has transferred 60% of his shares into a John Lewis-style trust. Richer, who recently turned 60, said the “time was right” to pass the baton to the chain’s 531 employees. The company will pay Richer an initial £9.2m for the stake but the businessman is giving £3.5m of that back to staff, who will receive £1,000 for every year they have worked for the retailer.
Yes, seems like a decent bloke and funding/doing other stuff which should be applauded too.
Good on him. I believe he'd already set this up to go 100% to his staff if he died but fair play for getting started early.
Bought my first hifi at 17 from Richer Sounds, one of my first experiences of being taken seriously and getting great customer service. Still have the speakers!
Agreed. Excellent work.
Bought my first hifi at 17 from Richer Sounds, one of my first experiences of being taken seriously and getting great customer service. Still have the speakers!
Me too standard 1990 setup - NAD amp, Philips CD player, Mission speakers. Then went to Uni and half of my mates dropped their grants (haha remember them) and student loans on pretty much the same. All from Richer Sounds. I don't have any of this kit anymore but I know where it is and it still works.
Yep, a great legacy; I hope it goes from strength to strength.
I got some Mission Speakers from there last year and I intend to buy a telly too even though its out of my way.
Shame there arent more people like him about in business.
is the capital gains tax rate more or less than the 3rd of the value he's handed to staff?
Spectabilis - that article is a bit myopic to say the least.
So, from a tax point of view the treasury loses out on the cash transferred to Mr Richer, but because he is giving a lot of it back to less well paid staff, it will end up in the economy being taxed.
That's why its CGT exempt, its not a con. This is a good thing - I might be going out of my way to use Richer Sounds in future because of it too.
Nice to see someone apparently taking a long term, sustainable approach to looking after their employees and running a business. He seems to have done OK out of it.
Spectabilis – that article is a bit myopic to say the least.
Borderline nutjob would be another way of putting it.
I'll also look more favourably on RS in future.
Yep, great example. Unfortunately there are not too many of them though.
Bought my first hifi at 17 from Richer Sounds, one of my first experiences of being taken seriously and getting great customer service. Still have the speakers!
Me too, but maybe at 15. Technics CD, Marantz amp, KEF speakers. Marantz amp sold for good money 2 years ago (needed something smaller). KEF speakers in K's workshop and still sound great.
I always like the minimum bullshit approach - all of this kit will sound good, don't worry too much about listening to it. If you want overpriced cables and connectors you can buy them but we'll sell you some own brand 79 strand cable without trying hard to upsell you.
I used to occasionally visit their London Bridge shop in the mid-eighties.
"Pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap" was definitely the approach but the staff were always friendly and knowledgeable.
See also Spedan Lewis.
Yep, used RS a lot over the years. One of the few shops where the staff seem to actually know what they're talking about unlike other big chain stores where their lack of product knowledge is embarrassing. So sounds like rewarding the staff is worthwhile....though I don't agree with the concept that potentially dodging CGT (if indeed he has) will end up recycling more money back into the taxman's account...a larger percentage of a much bigger number will delivery more money than a smaller percentage applied to a much smaller number on the wages of the employed. However the employees obviously feel the benefit so i'd give him the benefit of the doubt over his intentions.
Yep, great example. Unfortunately there are not too many of them though.
Actually I think you'll find it is more common than you think. Was listening to the chap who pulls together the rich list the other day on the wireless and one of the things he said about the richest people is they are generally very philanthropic, moreso now than ever, and most do pay their fair share in taxes. Of course there are always the crooks as there are in every walk of life and every level of the system, but rich people generally do put their money to work...afteral they've got more than enough than they need, so they either set up charitable trusts, give a lot away to charity, or invest in entrepreneurs that ultimately benefits those up and coming big bosses of tomorrow who end up employing lots of other people.
I bought many TDK AR90 tapes from them in the 90s, I feel I deserve a part of this windfall
Just read this on BBC’s news. Fair play.
Time for a minor claim to fame- I've been for a ride on his learjet.
I will also be spending more there, they have always been great with me so this is a reason for more loyalty.
B-ATB
Subscriber
Time for a minor claim to fame- I’ve been for a ride on his learjet.
Is that a euphemism?
I killed my 1990s Missions bought from there (my fault) and I'm looking at replacements… and now know where I'll be going to get them…
No- tenuous link at best he'd sold it by the time I was working for the aviation company that operated it for the new owner. The chief pilot there flew him around when he had the aircraft.
Quite a few jaunts to Amsterdam for a night or two with a well known ryhmn & Blues keyboardist. JR gave the pilot a bollocking for talking to his wife once. Probably because he was worried the pilot may spill the beans on the other 2 passengers on those flights.
For those worrying about the tax take. The exchequer will likely be better off from the cash distribution. CGT is tax free for 11.5k then 18% for basic rate tax-payers or 32% for higher rate. The cash distribution will be taxed at basic rate of 20% and NI contributions. Some that have more than 20k coming as cash may well pay at higher rate. Plus there will be CGT payable on the portion of cash that Mr Richer will keep.
If he’d of paid straight cgt would that be 32%? So approx £3m?
Does he have to pay cgt on the £6m he is keeping? Is the total not exempt due to the vehicle he used? (Employee trust)
Not been into a Richer Sounds for a few years although I bought our TV online from Richer Sounds a couple of years ago. Great service.
I was also got my first hi-fi from Richer Sounds in the mid-90's....in fact, when I say my first hi-fi.....I've still got all of it; NAD3020i amp, Luxman D322 CD player and some TDL RTL2 MkIIs.....
I used to go to either the Swiss Cottage or Watford Junction branches; I loved some of the quirky things they used to do; free umbrella if you'd purchased something and left the shop in the rain, Richer Sounds mugs, cheap extended warranty....
I take it they don't do the catalogue/magazine thing anymore?
I take it they don’t do the catalogue/magazine thing anymore?
Last time I walked past the one in Nottingham it still had the catalogues in those little plastic holders outside.
His book The Ethical Capitalist is well worth a read.
More people like this needed. Richer Sounds or John Lewis deserve or business.
Also Bought my first separates from RS back in the early 90s. Cambridge Audio amp, Marantz CD player and a set of Wharfedale speakers. Was mind blowing coming from a ghetto blaster setup.
In the market for a new TV and it’ll definitely be from RS
Marantz CD-63 / Rotel RA-920X (?) / JPW mini monitors + sub
Awesome. Briefly traded for some shit one-box unit when I went back to education, but that was replaced in term 1 with NAD CD player and amp and Mission speakers, and that's all still going strong 25 years on as my main living room system.
All from Richer Sounds, thanks Julian and good on ya!