Going for Gold
Published: 15 December, 2010
Gold buying has been a feature of malls for several years now. But The Scoin Shop is turning the concept on its head by selling gold coins as an investment
The Scoin Shop is one of the leading coin shops in the world. Chairman Alan Demby began dealing in gold coins while on conscription in South Africa over 35 years ago. His enterprise became the South African Gold Coin Exchange and its retail branch, The Scoin Shop, which first opened 11 years ago, now has 25 stores worldwide with plans to expand across the US and UK.
The company started buying and selling coins out of offices, opening the first shop in South Africa’s Sandton City shopping centre in 1999. The company has won numerous awards and last month The Scoin Shop was shortlisted for Best International Retailer at the Mapic retail property conference in Cannes.
“We’ve worked out the formula and perfected our offering,” says Demby. “We’ve demystified buying gold and we aim to make collecting accessible to the man in the street. We do for coins what McDonald’s did for burgers, what Starbucks did for coffee and what Louis Vuitton did for designer fashion.”
The Scoin Shop opened circa 350 sq ft units in Westfield London in November last year and in Bluewater in November this year as well as an office in Mayfair, through letting agents DTZ. The Scoin Shop is looking to find space in high-profile malls including Westfield Stratford, Brent Cross, Canary Wharf and Lakeside before rolling out in other London retail destinations and across the UK in cities like Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester.
South Africa has 20 Scoin Shops and Demby believes there is potential to open another 10-15 there with a similr number in the US. But he believes the UK has more potential and he is looking to open 30-60 branches in the coming years.
“Shopping malls are not obvious places where you’d expect to see a coin shop,” says Demby. “Having said that, that’s the reason why it works.”
“Shopping centres are a comfortable place for people who are not knowledgeable about coins. We employ helpful sales people rather than experts – that’s part of the appeal for people who have never bought coins before and it makes us more accessible.”
The Scoin Shop specialises in rare gold coins and commemorative ones for events like the Olympics or World Cup or of personalities like Princess Diana. For example the recently launched Nobel Peace Prize ‘Mandela Medallion’, which can go for anywhere between £100-£75,000, has proved very popular.
As Demby explains: “Nelson Mandela is a world-wide icon and his status has elevated in the 12 years since he left politics and become more the statesman. It’s particularly popular in South Africa and the UK is following, showing considerable success.”
The Scoin Shop also has a number of partnerships and exclusive deals with various mints. “We run a streamlined and sophisticated operation and if it weren’t for our supply chain it would never work,” says Demby. “Over the years we have been fortunate in cementing our relationship with mints and it’s this that has helped us to roll out our stores.”
“It’s about reputation. When you have lots of shops in malls you have visibility and potential clients know you are committed. When people see you over and over again they feel comfortable walking in and become repeat customers and ultimately collectors. We have turned thousands of non-collectors into collectors.
“We want to get the British public to consider a foreign concept and to buy coins in shopping malls.”
