I'd like to send out a moment of silence to my local Music go Round (Monroeville) that closed its doors the 16th of this month after 29 years. Thanks for everything...
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RIP
- Thread starter ghiggin1079
- Start date
Sorry for your loss. My only experience with Music Go Round is I once ordered a bass from them on a Friday, they sold it in store either Saturday or Sunday, and then they emailed me on Monday to tell me they'd accidentally sold it and I'd be refunded, so it was not a very pleasant experience lol
I grew up very close to Monroeville, if it's Monroeville, PA that you speak of. But that was a long time ago, before Music-Go-Round was ever even conceived. I now live near Albuquerque. I was in the MGR here just week before last. It seems to be doing well.
It is. It was down that side street where red lobster is and (I wanna say chichis used to be) it was a GARBAGE location, you had to know it was there to see it...
When I was a kid, there was nothing better than hanging out at the music store on Saturday mornings, trying out stuff, getting the fisheye from the owner(s), swapping tall tales, and trying to pick up tidbits from the older hotshots.
I hope that never goes away.
I hope that never goes away.
I imagine Reverb isn't helping their business model. I have a locaal Music Go Round in Roseville MN that has an amazing selection and seems to do fantastic business though. But it seems like most of them are filled with not particularly desirable used gear priced about 20 percent too high.
There is an MGR near me, and for a stretch of time it was my go to store. There was a lot of inventory turnover of nice gear, and one local bassist who was a bit of a gear hound would unload a lot of his gear there. He tended to buy and then sell a lot of Mesa amps...to which I ended up owning.
There was another one about an hour away that was not that great though. It mostly sold small goods supplier guitars and accessories. It is a cool model, but it has to be run by the right person I think.
As a suburban music store, it has to be hard to stay afloat without an influx of great gear regularly.
There was another one about an hour away that was not that great though. It mostly sold small goods supplier guitars and accessories. It is a cool model, but it has to be run by the right person I think.
As a suburban music store, it has to be hard to stay afloat without an influx of great gear regularly.
I grew up in North Versailles. I remember Yadco, Swissvale Music and Volkweins. I was gone before MGR.
I grew up in Irwin. I headed west in 1968 after graduating from Norwin High and never moved back. That was even before Red Lobster existed, so I can't visualize where your talking about, but I hate to see a real music store shut its doors. I admit I contribute to their downfall because I mostly buy online. Probably the last time I bought a guitar in a store was in 2013 at the Guitar Center in Albuquerque. MGR had a tempting Kramer last week--wired in a unique way with a P-pickup at the neck and a dual coil humbucker at the bridge with lots of switches and knobs.
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
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I’d like to offer my
tots ‘n pears at this difficult time. Please take the time to heal. You will begin to feel better soon, I promise.
tots ‘n pears at this difficult time. Please take the time to heal. You will begin to feel better soon, I promise.
As MGR is a franchise, you could open a new one in your town - though I suspect there’s a financial reason the old one shut down, instead of being sold.
I’ve seen some ads for MGR franchising - I think on Facebook?? First thought was “Neat! I could own my own MGR!”. Second thought “Wait, how do B&M stores even survive in this online climate?” Third thought “I’ve never seen ads for a MGR franchise - the company must be desperate for new stores to open to collect more franchise fees in order for the parent company to stay afloat. Which means now is the worst time to consider opening a MGR.”
I think in the right town, a MGR can be successful. You need the right combination of people with music gear they just want to sell cheap to get some cash, low commercial rent but also in a safe area that is near other businesses, and a customer base of people looking to buy gear - including kids just starting out on an instrument, musicians looking to upgrade their gear, or casual collectors with some disposable income to buy gear on a whim.
I’ve seen some ads for MGR franchising - I think on Facebook?? First thought was “Neat! I could own my own MGR!”. Second thought “Wait, how do B&M stores even survive in this online climate?” Third thought “I’ve never seen ads for a MGR franchise - the company must be desperate for new stores to open to collect more franchise fees in order for the parent company to stay afloat. Which means now is the worst time to consider opening a MGR.”
I think in the right town, a MGR can be successful. You need the right combination of people with music gear they just want to sell cheap to get some cash, low commercial rent but also in a safe area that is near other businesses, and a customer base of people looking to buy gear - including kids just starting out on an instrument, musicians looking to upgrade their gear, or casual collectors with some disposable income to buy gear on a whim.
I think Yadco is still hanging on. I pass by the storefront every once in a while when I'm omw for my haircut. It's usually Saturday morning so I can't tell. Swissvale is long gone, Volkwein I'm not sure on that one either. Pre covid someone got me a gift card there and I got me some strings.
I think it already has, save for the occasional oddball “vintage”/collectable brick’n’mortar stores, sometimes found in college towns or large municipalities. They often still have to carry new budget lines like Tagima for cash flow.
