POLL: How much do you buy local?

Pretty spoiled with music stores here. I’m happy to support folks here.

 

Local shops? Sometimes. Small shops? There aren't many left and they only have basic, cheap stuff, so not often.

 

Not as much as I should.

 

All the music shops near me are gone. There were 5 a couple of years ago.
All gone now.

 

I try to as much as possible, and I’m probably buying local in the 50-75% range. I like the ability to try stuff, and the community vibe, so I like to support that opportunity. We talk about gigs, lessons, and what’s new with our kids. I recognize we’re lucky to have a local shop at all.

Strings too; the D’Addario and DR factories are in the region (NY and NJ respectively) so my shop stocks lots of both. Between those 2 brands, I’ve got plenty of choices. I’m happy to go in and buy a pack in person and have a chat. I pay a little more this way, but I don’t change often and I don’t mind paying the premium.

In the end I have a pretty great stable as it is. I don’t buy much anymore and if I can’t get it locally I really don’t need it!

 

I used to buy local all the time. Now ... not many places left, and they often don't have what I need, so ...

 

The closest ma&Pa is 1 1/2 hrs away,about 74 miles one way. Not much in stock for bass. I order most stuff online after reading a ton of reviews.

 

I guess being so close to Nashville helps but I have one Pawn Shop in particular that I’ve been extremely blessed to find some great stuff.

I’ve been looking in pawns for years & usually junk or overpriced if decent til these guys opened shop.

 

I always try, always have. Unfo, other than a couple of GCs, the only local shop is my amp tech, and a luthier than does repairs and custom work.

 

It’s such a hard thing to answer these days.

I bought my Trickfish amp and cab, and ordered an Olinto from the Guitar Shop in Brooklyn. It’s the La Bella showroom. I also order strings direct from La Bella. Does that count as local small shop because La Bella is local to NY and family run, and Mas Hino and James Carbonetti are independent luths, or is La bella a big enough company not to count? You won’t find small indie brands like Trickfish at GC neither.

I ordered a Maruszczyk bass which is obviously not a small local shop in NYC. But Maruszczyk is a small independent luthier working out of the small Public Peace shop, just local to Germany and Poland. But we have the internet and so do they.

How would we define an online retailer like FatBassTone? They’re not a local shop you walk into (unless they have a local showroom in Maine I don’t know about.) But they’re not Guitar Center or Sweetwater neither. I got a Bart pre from FBT not too long ago.

And I got my Dyn Audio LYD48 studio monitors from Thomann which is definitely not small, and definitely not local. But they actually had the monitors I wanted.

Here in NYC there are two kinds of local shops: High end boutiques, usually run by the luthiers themselves (The Guitar Shop La Bella Showroom, Sadowsky, etc), or small local shops catering to giving lessons to kids with rental grade or “my first musical instrument” grade instruments for sale. Both are great things to have around. Their customer bases are at the exact opposite side of the spectrum. And there’s a huge dearth of any kind of local shop that splits the difference, that caries a range of mid-low to mid-high end instruments/gear.

There’s also a guitar center walking distance from my apartment. I don’t go to it. And I wouldn’t call it local, regardless of proximity.

 

Other than repair services...the stuff I don't do...virtually nothing. I did buy a $19 stand from my buddy Moe (Moe's Music) who relocated his shop 2 blocks from my house. Aside from my janky-ass Crate rig, the balance of the gear came from youse guys via the TB classifieds and occasionally Amazon or on-line source.

Riis

 

I don’t think I should shop local out of guilt. If they aren’t providing a service, why buy there? Because they’re small? If they have something I need or want, I’ll shop local. The main local place that I do buy from isn’t all that small.

 

Mars, Guitar Center, and Sam Ash pretty much killed most of the local small mom and pop music stores I went to when I was younger. The small stores that are still here are either specialized in overpriced school rentals or just don’t have anything I would be looking for. There prices are usually pretty high for what little they do have. I miss the small shops and the atmosphere they provided. Even pawn shops went down hill since EBay, Craigslist, FB Market Place.

 

We had 3 local shops in our town. One got bought out by Music & Arts. One is fairly decent but prices are high. The last one is run by a good dude. Everything he sells is an off-brand. But because it’s a great place to hang out and talk shop, I try & buy strings or something from him whenever I can. He sells a lot of cheap used gear but the very occasional gem will come through.

That being said, I find my best gear from local shops in other towns with good online presence and a willingness to make a deal. Or if I feel like driving to DC area, I’ll check out Chuck Levin’s. It’s large but local.

 

Up to last December, there was a small local shop. The owner was an excellent repair guy for acoustic instruments and did very basic wiring work on electrics. I did some amp repairs for him. He did not carry inventory of vacuum tubes, bass strings etc. The only bass instruments were consignments or trade-ins. Not much there for me.
The large, coast-to-coast chain moved to town. They hired the small shop owner and took in some of his instrument inventory as well. So, the small guy is no longer in business but has a steady job with a good employer and has medical benefits too.

 

Depends on the price, we have a website, translated to English as ''selfish''.com
You can type in any product and they will show you the list of every site that sells that product and price history of that site so you find the cheapest seller and can't be fooled by fake sale % 's
So I don't care If It is local or not, just give me a good price and a nice return policy.
If hypothetically everything was same I'd support local shops yeah but fckers take advantage of current economy and hardships of customs taxes and put on any price they wish.

 

I've been around long enough to remember mom and pop music stores that would get my business. Now, with the internet, and Guitar Center, that pretty much has disappeared. The last major acquisition at a local music store was back in 1995, a new MIA Fender Jazz for $750.