Re: One more local music store--gone

RichCI wrote: 
Mike Pritchard wrote:

A rant of sorts....but not really.  I'm very disappointed.

I stopped by my favorite local music store yesterday, only
to get some sad news.  They're getting out of the guitar,
bass, drums, etc., business and going to focus on school
band instrument sales and rentals, insead.

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

They have always been the kind of store that did both.  But,
the business was clearly divided...staff, building...everything.

So, I go in the place and notice that they are "remodeling",
with the gear (guitars, amps, drums, PA stuff, strings,
cables...you name it) all pushed to the middle of the room,
in sort of a "self service" setup.  What's more....not a
single sales person in the place to wait on those customers.

Hmmmmmm......not a good sign.

A short conversation at the new "central sales counter"
explained everything.  All my buddies had been let go.  Once
stuff on that side of the store is sold, there will be no
reorders.  (heaven forbid you might have a technical
question about something, before buying, too!)

Bummer....

This place was a very down to earth sort of store.  The kind
of place that would let you take an amp or effect home,
before buying...just to make sure it's what you wanted.
Their prices were very competetive with all the major mail
order companies, too.  I did as much business there, as I
could.  Even if they didn't stock something...if they could
order it, I'd get it there.  They always gave me a fair
price for doing so, too.

But, it looks like that was their undoing....

The company that owns them, also owns a couple more stores
in surrounding communities.  Profits are down, because of
the mail order/internet companies.  But, the thing that
really did it, was greed, I think.

This company just successully negotiated agreements with
almost all the area school districts, to become the
"official source" for their band instrument sales & rentals.

($$$$$)

So....I'm bummed.  We do have a couple more stores in our
area....but they're not the same.  One guy's is good, but
he's a Peavey dealer....not that there's anything wrong with
Peavey!  But, it's not what I use, eh?

The other place....well, frankly, I don't know how they're
still in business.

If you value your local music store....support them!  Spend
money there!  More often than not, the price I paid at the
store, was *very* close to the mail order price.  Sales tax
was usually a little less than I'd pay for shipping, too.
But even if I did pay just a little more, it was worth it.
You can't try a bunch of guitars, looking for just the right
one....on a web page.  I looked at it as investing in the
store's ability to provide me the opportunity to really see,
touch and play stuff, before buying.  A small price to pay!

And now...they're going away.

Thanks for reading,

Mike 



I was leafing through a Musician's Friend catalog this morning while
sitting on the thrown (no details spared) and noticed that they sell
THD Hotplates for $299.  I purchased one from my local store about 5
months ago and they charged me only $250.  When I bought my 57 Reissue
Strat two months ago, the original price (I bought it at clearance) was
$1295.00; I've seen it online for around 1325.00 or so.  This makes me
wonder:  Is it that the online retailers are giving such great deals or
is it that we, as consumers who want convenience, tend not to check
prices as carefully as we should?

Well, there's the whole "dominate the market, then raise prices" thing going on. Guitar Center swallowed up Musician's Friend. Then they swallowed Mars, and others. There are less options out there. I've noticed price increases. Coincidence? I've also noticed changes in posting web prices. Price controls? Gibson/Epiphone recently made some changes resulting in less competition and higher prices. I think that they threatened to pull dealerships if they posted before a certain level, which happened to be MF prices. Then MF raised their price, IIRC! (You'd have to do more checking, to make sure that I've got it straight).

Now, on a local level, one Guitar Center might sell for LESS than another store, or even LESS than Musician's Friend.

You still gotta shop around.

Walmart is also undercutting competition (much of this is done by selling inferior Chinese products at a LOW price, making it impossible for smaller retailers to compete, since they can't buy the chinese CRAP at the low prices that Walmart has negotiated, even if they chose to sell CRAP). God help us if they continue to grow, because the Chinese CRAP could end up costing as much as the quality merchandise that is getting squeezed out of the market.

An informed consumer is the best answer. No matter what you buy, do your research and choose your retailer. Here's a great tool for lowest price: http://www.froogle.com
.

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