My local store is going out of business.

Thats a shame, I'm sorry to hear that. Here in the he states its super/mega franchise stores moving in thats shutting down the small businesses...or making them drastically change to compete. But how do you compete against GC? I worked at a music store for a while and the way they did it was to offer services the mega-stores didn't like in-house repairs and lessons.

Its not just music stores either its the Walmarts and Home Depots coming in and shutting down the mom n' pop shops. It really sucks...10 yrs from now all were gonna see is these mega-chain stores.

 

I just posted a thread on a store in my area shutting down. The really sad thing is that I consider this store a chain as they have 2 or 3 locations in my state. I always thought of them as the best store in the area, and they were, so now it's hard to see them go. I have no problem going to GC except when it's about an hour and a half away It is nice though to walk into a store and the guy's know your name *insert theme to Cheers here*​

 

Truly sad.

I wonder how much longer they'll be any Mom/Pop businesses.

Mike

 

How, exactly, are these other stores "stealing [your] lines?" Most manufacturers have contracts in place that dictate how close one authorized dealer can be to another auth. dealer. So, either these other dealers are outside of any compete zone (fair game), or the manufacturer isn't getting enough buys from your store (gonna lose the line, anyway). Either way, it's not stealing--it's competition.

Sorry to hear about the store closing, but that's retail, unfortunately.

 

Exactly. I would definately rather buy something local than online and have to wait for it to come in, but most of the time, even all the way down to strings, they don't carry what I want.

Probably the only problem this would pose for me is as you said, if your guitar needs work. My store had the only tech left in the area that I'm aware of. I used to be able to go to Jack Read but I can't do that anymore either. It's not so much electrical work, as I can figure that out myself, but if a guitar needs neck/fret repair.

 

My drummer started his own music store about 10 years ago. He now has two stores and a '61 Corvette . And, the number of students his store teaches has increased every year, without fail. He's already outlasted the local Mars Music, and his local competition actually saw him as enough of a threat that they opened up a location closer to his store to try and put him under--instead, they ended up halving the business at their flagship store, and his business hasn't really suffered.

Some Mom and Pop music stores are doing just fine.

 

That's great to hear. Some problems with local stores is that they don't want to cater to what the customer truely wants. Alot of stores will only carry the same brands and lower end gear as everyone else because they think there is no demand for anything else in the area, when that always isn't true.

My most local store tries to sell what he can and if he can't then he puts his inventory on Ebay so he can bring in fresh things.

 

I own a couple of business. One is non music related and I have been running it for 15 years. This business is the leader in its particular industry. Lots of low cost competition. Its amazing to me how some of these low priced stores stay in business. I could never operate at the price they charge for the same service.

The Bassment is a much newer business and something I am doing as part of my passion for bass and music. I certainly intend for it to grow but I do have a greater appreciation for the retail market and how it can be a real challenge to compete.

The comparison I can make is that my low cost competition in the other business are low-balling and under cutting each other like crazy and while they may still be in business they are earning very little. Chances are this is what has happened in PEI. The other stores may have under cut your store, shown higher volumes, scooped the lines.

My town of 300,000 has about 4-5 good size stores. John Bellones is one of the strongest. I was in there the other day since I have a great relationship with them as well as gigging with guys in the store. JB really has reinvented themselves. Online business is growing like stink for them. They had shipments ready to go to British Columbia and other Canadian provinces. Maybe even PEI for all I know.

 

I live near a town of 1500 and in a county of 25,000. The nearest cities with GCs or MFs are Salt Lake City and Denver, each 300 miles away. I try to do all my business, whether it is tires, food or basses, as close to home as possible. I'm not bragging, it's just survival; if I don't support the locals they can't support me. My local music store discounts almost eveything by 25% to 30% from list and sometimes more for special customers (like me). They are always there for information and service and they back everything they sell. They also sell a lot of stuff online, whether directly or through ebay. As the owner said when I asked about a pristine 1942 00028 that came in a few months previously: "Oh, I sold that to my 'new best friend' in Japan for $18,000." I will be devastated when they close. The owner is 15 years younger than me, so hopefully I will die before that happens. It's got to be tough on PEI. At least I can drive a few hours and get to some othe excellent small shops I know about.

 

Let me take home a new B15S with the promise that I would bring in the money in the "next couple of days"

lent the DJ for my sisters wedding a spare power amp and a spare DJ mixer. Both in the box new, not some used crud hanging around.

allowed me to make a 30/60/90 payment plan on my first real amp.

Provided a 46% cash discount on my Baby Bass

Provide me with free advice that actually worked, backed up their products, Had my 13th birthday party at the store and I got to demo a new amp called the SVT

Gave all the people I brought in decent deals.

Accepted a Guild guitar back from a friend who had had it for two weeks or more. It did sound odd through his White and blond Fenders.

I loved the place, my twin uncles bought identicals Martins from the store in 1954.

I had the same salesman for so long that I named my first born after him. Tim, I hope things are going well for you and yours.

Best of Luck,
Wes

PS I have found a new local store that I like a lot.