Tennis strings for a small shop

RSA Tennis

New User
Hi guys. I am opening a small shop at our tennis club and would like to get some string suggestions. I dont have the space (and i dont feel its necessary) to stock 50+ strings.

i would like suggestions on the following categories:
1. Power
2. Control
3. Soft Poly
4. Multi/Syn Gut (lots of older people at the club)

i do prefer shaped polys. I have access to the following brands:
Signum Pro, Solinco, MSV, Babolat, Head, Wilson, Luxilon, Gamma, Ytex, Diadem.

i’m a 10+ UTR and I’ve always played with “budget” polys like SP X-perience (cheap in South Africa) so i dont know if its neccesary to stock Luxilon etc.
 

fed1

Professional
You can do very well with just stocking Solinco, with the exception of natural gut.
The costs are really reasonable and the company is very responsive.
 

LOBALOT

Legend
What is your expected client base or majority of clients?

I would target your inventory off that question and then expand your inventory by reinvesting returns.

If a majority of your client base is young tournament players with UTRs similar to you that would mean one type of string. If a majority of the club members are old guys like me that string wouldn't work. You don't want to find yourself with an initial set of string that people aren't going to ask for. You want to start out with an inventory that a majority will use (70%) and then expand into the other (30%) as you go. What I did was initially buy packets for the other 30% and slowly have replaced a majority of that now with reels so I am covered.
 

RSA Tennis

New User
So I run a tennis academy with 120 players. Most of my players uses poly. I just want a solid option for a player that asks for a 1. control poly, 2. a powerful poly, 3. a spin poly, 4. a soft poly. I know my players and what they like. I just want a couple of options for the other players i don't know. It would be 80% poly players and 20% multi. Most of the players have no idea of strings and like me to suggest them “the best”
 
I would have Solinco tour bite, hyper g, hyper G soft, outlast, and barbed wire. As well as their syn gut/multis. Solinco will ALWAYS sell, especially towards the youth/junior players. Have at least 3 reels of hyper G

I would always have Luxilon ALU, luxilon 4g, and rpm blast. There will always be somebody that will get rpm based off of nadal, or luxilon because it has always been the gold standard.

I would also have Forten nylon as the budget friendly option, as some people don't care what string they put in, such as the older crowd
 

K1Y

Professional
I think for all around soft polys you can look at:
regular lynx from head
Signum pro firestorm
wilson revolve
babolat rpm power
 

K1Y

Professional
If you reached high level with budget polys, why would they need expensive polys? If you say they're good enough. You can restring poly enough without having to worry about high cost.
 

NastyWinners

Hall of Fame
Can also use the auction site to grab some Yonex reels of Poly Tour Pro / Spin / Rev.

Why is there such a big price discrepancy between the US and other countries with the Yonex string?
 

McLovin

Legend
You really should just reach out to Solinco. I'm sure they'd give you some sort of contract. Hell, I was a lowly high school coach of a team that barely made it out of their Region, and I got contracts w/ Pacific, Solinco, and Pro Kennex.
 

Return_Ace

Hall of Fame
I've not started a shop, but I have recently learned to string and offer it out to people at the club (not really advertising, just mentioning it if the topic comes up).

Obviously I don't have the budget to stock reels of everything as well, so I've mainly just kept it at:

Babolat Syn. Gut - I inherited this when I purchased the stringing machine etc. from the previous coach, but it's cheap and I wouldn't hesitate to restock it.
Head Velocity - A good budget multi that I also use for my hybrids.
Wilson Sensation - Inherited, I also hate it and am trying to use it as an all-purpose multi.
Head Lynx Tour - Bought this a while back for myself, but never got around to actually using it properly.
Volkl V-Square - My own reel, but if people want to pay the premium, they can have this option.

The only thing I feel like I'm missing is a budget-midrange poly, so there's Isospeed Baseline and/or Tier One Black Knight, that I'm looking to potentially get a reel of, then I'll think it's fairly complete.

I'd ideally love to stock something like Triax, or X-One Biphase (aka a premium multi), but I can't really justify the cost, especially considering for the level of the general club members, i think Velocity/Sensation is good enough (at least, i don't know how I'd recommend something 2-3x the cost).

Admittedly my club isn't particularly high performance, so i don't need a large range of poly, but if they want something specific, they can always buy it themselves.
 

RSA Tennis

New User
What do your clientele use now? Many won't want to change. I sent you a PM.
Most of them are clients of my academy, They have no idea what I'm stringing for them. I decide and they are happy. I string SP X-perience, SP Hextreme, Gamma Moto, Babolat RPM team. All poly players but if I start stringing at the club, I would like to give the club players option. For example I want to give them a budget ($7-$10) power/control/spin/multi and then also a premier option ($12+). Signum Pro, Gamma and MSV is quite cheap here. Also looking at bringing in some Tier 1 and even some Volkl but that I need to ship in
 

kevonian

Semi-Pro
Solinco, Diadem, Tier One for those who want the name brand.

Stock up on Pros Pro for the players who just need basic synthetic gut or basic poly. I have converted many UTR 8-9s to Pros Pro poly by just offering them a great deal
 

K1Y

Professional
Solinco, Diadem, Tier One for those who want the name brand.

Stock up on Pros Pro for the players who just need basic synthetic gut or basic poly. I have converted many UTR 8-9s to Pros Pro poly by just offering them a great deal
what pros pro strings do they like the most?
 
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Grafil Injection

Hall of Fame
Not to be too Gordon Gecko, but isn't the answer: 'whatever makes you the biggest margin'? But realistically, I like the selection above with a few well known brands like Wilson Sensation & Babolat RPM, plus a few bargain brands.
 

StringGuruMRT

Semi-Pro
At a club you're most likely have to be the one that informs your clientele. Most people are just going to drop off their racquet and say "do the same thing as last time." Bring in what strings you believe in and can explain why you like them for that player. A small minority will probably come in looking for something very specific, and maybe be ready to special order a couple of sets for that person. On these boards Solinco, Diadem, and Tier One might be well known brands, but most players have never heard of them. If you are a professional stringer, and can "talk the talk" they will trust you, and you'll be able to stock what you think is best.

That being said, at my small country club shop the strings that do the best are...
Wilson NXT (56% of total string jobs)
Head Lynx Tour (what I have most of my poly players in)
Wilson Sensation Plus
ALU Power
Basic SynGut (Head Mostly, but a couple sets of Wilson)

Hope that helps
 

LiamMiguel

Semi-Pro
You should be able to get an account with Solinco. I suggest contacting them since you’re a full academy. A lot of high schools and academies where I’m from had deals with either Solinco or Wilson so you should be alright.
 

g4driver

Legend
You can get Solinco strings cheaper than having an account with them. Their account prices like Gamma account prices.. insert a Detour emoji

having an account with Tier One and buying four reels a year, now that is the type of account pricing Solinco could offer but doesn't.
 
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