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Do you hate music store?
- Thread starter Two-Spirit
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- music store
Can't argue with that.
But the other side is how music stores were before the internet or even very much mail order music. Two stores in my hometown controlled the entire music instrument business. If you weren't part of the in group of local pros, they sucked every dime they could from you and treated young players like dog crap. There were a couple of small shops including one where I took guitar lessons, who were decent people, but because the two bullies on the block sucked up all the franchises, they only sold cheap off brands and used stuff.
I still try to support the local shops where I live now, but to some extent brick and mortar music brought trouble on themselves when times were good for them.
I don't think he means all individuals here when he says "we." I was working in a large, privately owned music store in a large city in the mid '90s when the internet was just starting up. It was as though overnight we went from being the best place to learn and get hands on experience and instruction to being mere conveyors of merchandise from warehouse to register. We had always been willing to haggle on price, with reasonable profit margins that were calculated to allow the store to pay the overhead and pay their workers a decent wage and commission. Sales people were reasonable with each other and we had each other's backs.
Overnight, we went from that to being asked by every customer if we could match online prices at 5% or 10% above cost, which wasn't enough to keep the doors open. It was not sustainable. Customers would come in, spend two or three hours of our time getting all the information they could, then call us to let us know they could get it from Musician's Friend for 5% over cost. Commissions tanked because we were all wasting our time working as Musician's Friend's showroom all of a sudden. Sales people found it harder and harder to work together because the competition for sales was making everyone's lives more difficult and management hired in some people who had some fairly cutthroat approaches to working with others. I saw the writing on this wall very quickly and quit that job after watching another sales person sell a backordered item I had tagged in layaway with a deposit on it, leaving me in a position where I had to tell that customer I no longer had his item and he would need to wait. It was Christmas. Everyone in sales there had gotten too hungry.
That store did go out of business after over 40 years. Maybe you always bought your stuff there, maybe someone else always did, too, but the people saying that tire-kicking and online pricing killed those stores are not wrong.
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its a shame a lot of you have had bad experience with music shops the few shops that we have over here are great its like a family everyone knows everyone you sometimes meet the local stars there and have a chat with them
That's the way it used to be here. There are a few privately owned stores still around but they don't keep much stock on hand because they can't afford the inventory. And that leads to the situation someone else described, which is everything they have is out on the floor so you can't buy anything that's in an unopened box.
I will never get sick of music stores. I don’t care how crappy or pricey. It’s always fun to talk with other people and handle the newest toys. I personally hate internet shopping. So many broken things getting shipped and down time waiting for the replacement.
I did some time working in the sheet music department of a locally-owned music store in the 90s. We were in the basement. Upstairs was pretty much constant cacophony, especially on the weekends. If I had a nickel for every time I heard the opening bars of "Roundabout"...
I still enjoy the few mom and pop music stores "near" me. They're mostly geared towards student band instruments. It's nice to talk to people who genuinely care and strive to serve the community.
RIP Saunder's Music Youngstown, OH.
RIP Saunder's Music Youngstown, OH.
our music store theme tune was smoke on the water
Since my preferences run to instruments that long have been out of production or simply are not available in a brick and mortar store, I pretty much have had to shop online. But for my community band needs (euphonium), it's the local music store.
One of the many shortcomings of word in a searchbox online searching is that you can only find what it is you're looking for (unless you want an impossibly huge set of random results). Serendipity is all but impossible. But when I was a kid a Saturday pawn shop hop was fraught with discovery. Now *there* was Nirvana! THERE was bliss.
One of the many shortcomings of word in a searchbox online searching is that you can only find what it is you're looking for (unless you want an impossibly huge set of random results). Serendipity is all but impossible. But when I was a kid a Saturday pawn shop hop was fraught with discovery. Now *there* was Nirvana! THERE was bliss.
i remember when i was a kid back in the 70's you could get hold of all sorts from second hand shops i remember getting a vox foundation amp for 50p thats what i call a bargain
I got tired of hearing, "We don't have, but we can get it." Quickly followed by, "because it a special order item, it's non-returnable", always referring to the item in the previous quote. Then requiring a deposit only to be told two weeks later that it's back ordered. Well, guess what? I can "get it" online too and return it if there's an issue. I pretty much outgrew my local music stores when stopped need shaker eggs and MI grade gear.
There are exceptions; after a couple of online disappointments, I will not buy an instrument with out touching first. I want to know how it feels when I play it, not get used to it after I buy it. There are just too many variables in something made out of wood. I also buy strings locally, mostly because or my severe lack of planning! We are fortunate enough to have a good local guitar shop (Mark's), where I live, that I patronize whenever I can.
Aside from the "we can get it" problem above, what really killed purchasing locally for me was the online finance options. Really? You're going to let me buy this $4000 mixer and pay for it over the next 48 months with no interest? Yeah, sign me up and I'll pay for it in two years. And be back for more.
There are exceptions; after a couple of online disappointments, I will not buy an instrument with out touching first. I want to know how it feels when I play it, not get used to it after I buy it. There are just too many variables in something made out of wood. I also buy strings locally, mostly because or my severe lack of planning! We are fortunate enough to have a good local guitar shop (Mark's), where I live, that I patronize whenever I can.
Aside from the "we can get it" problem above, what really killed purchasing locally for me was the online finance options. Really? You're going to let me buy this $4000 mixer and pay for it over the next 48 months with no interest? Yeah, sign me up and I'll pay for it in two years. And be back for more.
our music store theme tune was smoke on the water
Oh lord, yes that too, even into the 90s, plus the Eddie Van Halen tapping thing. When I sold and repaired saxophones, it was the same thing... guys had riffs they practiced for the music store, I swear.
So my current herd of Basses:
2 pawn shop
2 Craigs List
2 Guitar Center (local)
1 On line
1 Vintage local shop
I've tried buying 2 others on line but they show up beaten from shipping and I returned them. Decided not to do that any more. Besides I want to hold, feel and try before I buy!
My list of 8 are down from my high of 13. Am I cured????
2 pawn shop
2 Craigs List
2 Guitar Center (local)
1 On line
1 Vintage local shop
I've tried buying 2 others on line but they show up beaten from shipping and I returned them. Decided not to do that any more. Besides I want to hold, feel and try before I buy!
My list of 8 are down from my high of 13. Am I cured????
The last time I tried out a bass in a big box music store, some other customer sat down next to me and said "Let's hear you slap". I think that was about 10 years ago. Stuff like that never happens in the boutique stores and the prices aren't all that much different.
