Yesterday I wrote a post entitled Retropreneur: Should Anyone Start an Indie Record Store?, which naturally raises the question:
What’s a retropreneur?
As you probably guessed the term retropreneur is a bit of a made-up word (although if Websters or the OED want to include it I’ve no objections) but here’s my definition:
Retropreneur / noun / (ret-ro-pren-eur) – Someone who gives an ‘old-school’ business idea or business model a new lease of life.
OK, so not a brilliant definition (I’ll keep working on it) but the idea is simple enough.
There are plenty of business ideas that have been displaced by changes in technology or just replaced by new ideas – but others have simply fallen out of fashion and are ripe for reinvention and new applications.
And so there’s a small, but noticeable, trend towards reimagining some of these ideas in new business ventures – driven in part by our growing interest in brands that deliver craftsmanship, personality, sustainability and a personal touch.
A few examples then:
- Manhattan Milk’s modern take on old fashioned home delivery
- London’s Unpackaged grocery store which we covered recently
- The growing prevalence of community supported agriculture and similar projects worldwide
- The bartering clubs and events that are popping up all over the place
- The indoor market reimagined at Stuff in Croydon, England (we’ll be looking at this one later in the week)
Retropreneurship isn’t necessarily about changing an industry, trading on nostalgia or even cashing in on vintage chic – but rather looking for those ideas that still make sense now, stripping back unnecessary fluff and rediscovering lost values that consumers will put a premium on.
I hope to cover quite a few ‘retropreneurial’ businesses so if you know of a good one – make sure to let us know.
Pic: Flickr Creative Commons [Link]
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