First Of All.
Firstly, I would sincerely like to thank my whole customer base, all 14,000 plus of you, if it was not for you then Strictly Ham
would not have been as successful as it has been for more than 30 years, you are an integral part of the Strictly Ham family
and the success it has had over that time.
A Brief History. (1992-2012)
Strictly Ham came about after hearing discussions on air here in Melbourne in late 1992 about a local Melbourne dealer, many of you will remember
Stewart Electronics in Huntingdale, no doubt at the time probably Australia's largest Amateur retailer and also one of my local sources
of Amateur radio products.
What a great idea I thought, I can do what Stuart Electronics do, how hard could it be, having no idea about business when I first started
how bad could it be. First thing to do was contact the suppliers and discuss the business plan with them. Kenwood was
first cab off the rank and they were very positive for another new dealer in the Melbourne area, only stipulation was I had to
have a shop front.to be a dealer. So the hunt was on, and after a short time in late 1992 I found the shop at 14 Church Street
The shop opened in Feb 1993, I can still remember the first sale, a Volume Knob to suit a Kenwood TM-732A, around that time
contact was made with Icom and after several months of indecision, mainly due to opposition from Stewart Electronics
I was also appointed as an Icom Amateur dealer, the rest is history.
I have seen many dealers come and go over the last 30 years, in my view most have had the grand plan to make a killing out
of this industry, that is just not possible with the small margins and highly discounted products on offer, in the 30 plus year of operation
I have never sold a major product at the full recommended retail price, this is just not possible.
In 2009 the current website became live and that changed everything, sales went through the roof as those that did not need to speak
to me to order product had a portal to order what they required whenever they required, I never imagined it would become as
popular as it has, prior to this most sales were via word of mouth and on the phone.
2013 Onwards.
After 20 years trading at Shop 14 Church Street here in Bayswater, Shop 12B (Next Door) became available, so the decision to
purchase this store was made, and after 5 months of long hours after 5pm and weekends of fitting out the shop this location
officially opened the first week of December 2013, many of you may remember the Icom open day held on the 7th of December that year.
The Decision To Retire.
This decision did not come easy, many points over the last 3 years had finally made the decision for me, the single biggest one is the
simple fact that there is far fewer years ahead of me than there is behind, pretty much a no brainer in the end.
Current Outstanding Customer Backorders.
Contrary to what you may read on other websites don't worry, if you have an outstanding backorder then I have every intention of supplying
your product before I close, ongoing issues with COVID related supply are not making this easy at the moment as many of you know.
Website Stock Control.
In the coming weeks stock control will be enabled on the website, this means a lot of products will disappear before they return after
being counted and stock levels included against those items, if you don't see an item return then I don't have it available. Once stock
sells it will not be replaced and that item will disappear from the site.
"Please Note"
Many people have mentioned I will be closing on December 1st, this is not the case, I am currently in the process of winding the business dowm, this will take
many months as far as I can tell, unless a buyer has been found in the meantime.
