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Mom & Pop Shops

#21
I tend to like the Mom & Pop shops, but I also like doing online shopping as well for convenience sake. I really don't like Guitar Center. The store near me is badly stocked as far as anything bass related, it takes forever to get in, get what you need and get out, and the staff sees a middle aged fat guy come in and more or less ignores me until I have to get up in front of them where they can't really ignore me....

Down the road just a short ways is my local mom & pop, I have bought 1 new, and 2 used instruments, cases, straps, strings, acoustic guitars, tuners, egg shakers etc... from them. I always get great service from them, and like checking out their bass selection with a wall full of Squier, a wall full of Fender, some Epiphone I think, a Few Danos etc... No shortage of basses or bass amps either!
 
#22
Dluxe said:
GC is 2.5 miles from my house and the staff in Austin is very knowledgeable. I've lived in Austin for 34 years and was treated like crap by some of the local stores when I was young and broke. I've never forgotten that and the ones that survived get none of my money. The only exception is South Austin Music. Been shopping there since 1986. Ray's Heart Of Texas Music was great but are no more.
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+1 I remember those days fondly the only other option was ordering something though the Sears catalog, pay through the nose at the pawn shops or wait for somebody's brother to go to college and hope they gave you a deal on the gear they left behind.
 
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#23
Immigrant said:
I haven't had to buy anything (nor could I afford to) in a long time, but the Mom&Pop I frequent matched online pricing on big ticket items. I bought a Fender Reverse Jag Bass and a Squier Jag bass there for the same price I could've got them online (or at GC for) plus they set up every instrument they sold.

Get that? Every instrument that walks out the door is ready to play. Big box can't guarantee that.
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I've never bought an instrument from any merchant that I didn't have to go back and redo the setup. Most retailers seem to think a Fender style bass should be played with the strings a foot off the fretboard and most modern style active basses should have the strings gently resting on the frets at all times. Perhaps it's me that's weird, I dunno, but I've come to realize the free setup is meaningless to me after changing the strings out and so forth.
 
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#24
I found that GC's vary wildly from store to store. The downtown Boston GC sucks, a bunch of 19 year old Berklee School of Music dropout rockstar wannabees, and the turnover is so constant you never see the same face twice. The one in Braintree Mass a few miles East is night and day, great staff, knowledgable, in-house guitar tech, etc. I have actually seen the same staff more than once there, which is amazing considering the crappy pay an lack of benefits. Boston used to have around 10 good mom & pop guitar stores, GC killed that in part, but it's an overall erosion, and we as players are partly to blame, always hunting for the cheapest possible price. I guess you have a choice, knowledgable sales staff, or cheap online mailorder where you never know what's going to come out of the box. I get a kick out of people whining about how the basses are not set up properly at GC, whaddya expect for such cheap prices? I live on Cape Cod, where there is precisely one guitar store of any size, and since they have no competition, the prices are high and they really don't give a sh*t about customer service. I bought a Jay Turser beatle bass clone for $299 at this local gem, Charlie's Music, came back a couple weeks later for some better roundwound strings. They sold me the wrong scale length, then refused to take them back or exchange because they were now "used" because we opened the package, never even installed them! Now I buy strings online! I bought my first bass, a 1979 Ric Jetglo at a place called E.U. Wurlitzer Music in downtown Boston. I remember looking through a STACK of Rics (they were dime a dozen in the late 70's) to find one with no finish flaws, the salesman pulled them out one by one till I was satisfied. Those days are long gone.
 
#25
I live in area where they are steadfastly against having any big box stores around. All the big box stores are about 20 miles away.

Every week they put something in the local rag about "shopping local" and why I should.

I never shop local except for the barest necessities.....because the locals don't have anything that I want.

There is a mom and pop music store here........absolute joke and get's even worse if you're a bass player.

Combine that with all the locals charging way above what I'd pay anywhere else for the same thing.

It took 15 years for a Canadian Tire to come here...and they fought it all the way.

Elitist exclusivist high-off-the-hog locals and mom&pops? No thanks...I'll just drive the 20 miles to where the prices, selection and customer service are 100% better...
 
#27
Moved to Boise from SF Bay Area a few months ago. (BTW, what is this white stuff falling from the sky?) The GC here is fraction of the size of what I'm used to, but the staff there was very helpful the one time I've been in. Haven't had a chance to explore any of the smaller shops here yet, but I'm not really in the market for anything. There are a lot of independent shops in the Bay Area, and I kind of miss them. One of my favorites changed owners earlier this year, but seems to be holding up okay. (Although they now take 35% on consigned items, which seems a bit excessive.) Maybe once I learn how to drive in the snow I'll venture out to some local shops here. (My car is white; I'm pretty sure it's parked nearby. ;))
 
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#29
Here's my local: Fret Mill Music Co. – Fret Mill Music Co.

The owner has been in business going on 40 years in downtown Roanoke, Virginia. Great to deal with, and they have topnotch instruments. On top of that, the sales manager is a monster bass player. I buy everything I can there, and try to send them business when I can.

(no affiliation, other than we're buds)
 
#30
count your blessings that you even have any mom & pop shops around you. I have to drive an hour to get to one that's a clone of guitar center..... low end packages or mid range gear at full list. The closest decent one is over 2 hours away. (each way)
 
#31
Lownote38 said:
I only go to the Guitar Center in Nashville if I need a laugh, or to check and see if they've pulled in any more of my stolen basses (I found 2 out the 5 I had stolen there, and they HAD the serial numbers and pictures I had given them when the theft took place, yet they purchased them anyway!). I feel VERY lucky to live here in Nashville because we have a number of locally owned shops that I always go to when I'm purchasing something. Corner Music and Rock Block come to mind. Both will beat, or at worst, match a GC price, and the repair people actually know how to repair things.
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I was in Nashville last spring, and stumbled on to corner music. I was pretty impressed. I mentioned to the older guy at checkout, that they were like GC, only without the suck! Great place
 
#32
xUptheIronsx said:
Unfortunately, we have no more mom and pop stores around here. It really sucks. We used to have 3 or 4 AWESOME stores in town for guitars and basses. Places where you could just go and hang all day; noodle on instruments; meet and talk to people from EVERY SCENE in the city...cool, very versatile selections of new and vintage....basically these were the places where you learned the "rules" of being a local musician; you gained all of your non-musical wisdom about being a player in the scene...
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Maybe if you bought something.... ;-)
 
#33
Our main local store is Long & McQuade, Canadian chain with GC type selection but with much better staff (most are knowledgeable, friendly, and like to chat gear/music etc.).

I do also go into small local stores but mostly for setup/repairs, and maybe small items. Their guitars mostly are cheap Samick variety stuff and of no interest to me (although I understand why they don't want/can't financially justify a wall of historic Les Pauls :). However, the best "mom and pop" stores are the ones that specialize. In Vancouver there is a store that specializes in acoustic guitars, etc. and some of their stock is truly amazing ($10K+ Lowdens, etc.). Never gonna see this stuff at big box stores. Club Bass in TO is another example of the small local shop that specializes and has some amazing items in stock as a result.

Later
Rob
 
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#34
Andy_Madison said:
Were you able to reacquire those basses on the spot?
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After I called the police and had an officer come out there. I always carry the police report from the original theft with me as well as all of the serial numbers and descriptions. The 19 year old GC manager pushed hard to not let me have my 1968 Precision Bass to the point that he nearly got arrested for lying about details of the bass. It turned out that he was the one that purchased the basses there, and the 68 was already on layaway for another customer. The officer asked me about the details of the bass (which I know like the back of my hand) after he asked the GC dude about the details. After questioning me, he gave that kid a talking to for lying about those details. An hour after discovering my basses were there, I had my 68 and a highly customized MIJ Fender MB-5 back in my hands.
 
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#36
Also need to add that these local Mom and Pop stores with high-end specialized items would probably be out of business without internet sales (my guess). Not sure even cities like Vancouver and Toronto (2 million+) provide a market big enough on their own.

Later
Rob
 
#37
rob2966 said:
Also need to add that these local Mom and Pop stores with high-end specialized items would probably be out of business without internet sales (my guess). Not sure even cities like Vancouver and Toronto (2 million+) provide a market big enough on their own.

Later
Rob
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Nashville does, and I think that's really the only reason the Mom and Pop stores still thrive here. LOTS of musicians right here in town.
 
#38
My local shop (Victor Litz) will almost always honor prices from the big box stores. its definitely worth trying with mom and pop stores.

I don't beat them up too much because their knowledge and kindness always trumps getting absolutely every dollar squeezed out of the item I buy from them.
 
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#39
Gilmourisgod said:
I found that GC's vary wildly from store to store. The downtown Boston GC sucks, a bunch of 19 year old Berklee School of Music dropout rockstar wannabees, and the turnover is so constant you never see the same face twice. The one in Braintree Mass a few miles East is night and day, great staff, knowledgable, in-house guitar tech, etc. I have actually seen the same staff more than once there, which is amazing considering the crappy pay an lack of benefits. Boston used to have around 10 good mom & pop guitar stores, GC killed that in part, but it's an overall erosion, and we as players are partly to blame, always hunting for the cheapest possible price. I guess you have a choice, knowledgable sales staff, or cheap online mailorder where you never know what's going to come out of the box. I get a kick out of people whining about how the basses are not set up properly at GC, whaddya expect for such cheap prices? I live on Cape Cod, where there is precisely one guitar store of any size, and since they have no competition, the prices are high and they really don't give a sh*t about customer service. I bought a Jay Turser beatle bass clone for $299 at this local gem, Charlie's Music, came back a couple weeks later for some better roundwound strings. They sold me the wrong scale length, then refused to take them back or exchange because they were now "used" because we opened the package, never even installed them! Now I buy strings online! I bought my first bass, a 1979 Ric Jetglo at a place called E.U. Wurlitzer Music in downtown Boston. I remember looking through a STACK of Rics (they were dime a dozen in the late 70's) to find one with no finish flaws, the salesman pulled them out one by one till I was satisfied. Those days are long gone.
Click to expand...

Wurlitzer, Daddy's, and my favourite, Cambridge Music on Boylston St were some of the last of these stores I've been in. Bought a PA at GC by Fenway and wanted to strangle the smug little turd of a "sales associate" who barely bothered to help me with that $2k purchase, but other than that, been shopping used and online for a decade at least since those shops went away (and I did too!).
 
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#40
I love my GC, it feels like a mom and pop to me. After they found out I'm a working musician with a little experience, and not some hipster duffus time-waster, the staff really warmed up. After I got the manager involved in a couple of transactions, the place is like Cheers, everyone knows my name, and I pretty much call the shots (within reason, but sometimes the flex on their part is amazing). There has never been a mom and pop in my area that treated me as well and offered the selection and deals of my Guitar Center, not even close. Indeed, I have a good relationship with the staff at two GC's (we have three here in the Denver Metro area). All retailers drop the ball once in awhile, but GC has never failed to bend over backward to make things right with me.

If there was a mom and pop in my area that delivered like GC, I'd be there. But there's not.

And for you socio-political-economics experts out there who will try to tell me I'm immoral for shopping corporate entities, just save it. That sermon has gotten lame and redundant. At this point, I've read it so much here on TB it's nothing more than weak trolling.
 
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