I used to work in a model shop, they lasted 2 years because their mark up was between 24 and 33%, this was about 8 years ago, I don't know if it's different now but as Skye says, unless you're making 35% plus, ideally 50% it's difficult doing it.
I watched dragon's den when it first started, their was a girl on their who had her business plan set out to make jewellery. She was working with a 1000% percent mark up, that's the sort of mark up that lets you drive around in a fancy car. People that own model shops don't have that luxury, and if they did it's probably because they bought the car before they started the business.
One of the points that is perhaps being missed here is people moan about pricing in the LHS, which has to be higher than people who only sell on the net because the LHS has rent, rates and probably more staff than fred sat in shed. If we only bought from our LHS and they were selling more volume I think we'd all see them being able to reduce their prices but as quincey has said above, idiots buy acme products off the net then expect spares back up from a shop they bi-passed in their initial purchase. People often aren't interested in being educated about what they can buy, they just see the cheap one on the net and get it, no second thought until it stops working or they need a part.
As for the opening Saturday thing, I used to be self employed and you do burn yourself out trying to do too many hours, and if you've got kids you need time with them and also time for yourself away from work, so if they're closed there is probably good reason for it.
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