Sam Ash is closing 18 stores

[bassfiddlesteve]

This is a partial list:

02, Huntington, NY
07, 34th Street, NYC
13, Edison, NJ
20, Lombard, IL
33, Miami Lakes, FL
42, Clearwater, FL
60, City of Industry, CA
63, Atlanta, GA
56, Orlando, FL

...and 9 more

- Steve

 

[Gorn]

It's not surprising. I wonder if the Long Island store and Queens store are on the rest of the list.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

It sucks.

 

[pcake]

i just got an email from samash that they're closing the hollywood store - they didn't mention the others. it came with the attached graphic

it's sad, but it's not surprising as that store has been grossly mismanaged for over 2 decades that i've been going there.

 

[aproud1]

Heard Cincinnati is on the list as well (it's in the old Mars Music)

I tried to support my local Samash. Gave up on the local Guitar Center long before. They just never really had what I needed and no one was really helpful. It's unfortunate but not at all surprising.

 

[skycruiser]

Anyone have the full list? Is the Dallas TX one on the list? Last time I went in it was pretty depressing.

 

[Michedelic]

i just got an email from samash that they're closing the hollywood store - they didn't mention the others. it came with the attached graphic

View attachment 5370350

it's sad, but it's not surprising as that store has been grossly mismanaged for over 2 decades that i've been going there.

Yes, and being across the street from the original Guitar Center seemed like a David vs. Goliath move. Think of all the other stores in and around that intersection who have come and gone in the last 30-40 years.
When the chain expanded into/all over SoCal, it seemed like a half-hearted effort. I’m sure you remember Mars Music.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Oy!

 

[KohanMike]

I'm on chat with Sam Ash web who says he does not know of any closures. I'm going to call Hollywood at 11am. I called them yesterday looking for a boom clamp, nothing said about closing. I've always bought from Sam Ash first, if they don't have it, I go to Guitar Center, if they don't have it, I go to Ametron. I'll also check B&H and Sweetwater.

 

[P. Aaron]

Anyone have the full list? Is the Dallas TX one on the list? Last time I went in it was pretty depressing.

I see that store on trips up & down HWY75. Always intended to stop in but, driving in Dallas is it's own monster to tend with plus, the time.

 

[HP Hovercraft]

i just got an email from samash that they're closing the hollywood store - they didn't mention the others. it came with the attached graphic

View attachment 5370350

it's sad, but it's not surprising as that store has been grossly mismanaged for over 2 decades that i've been going there.

Oh wow. I only went there a few times because Guitar Center is right there and generally has everything.

 

[pcake]

Yes, and being across the street from the original Guitar Center seemed like a David vs. Goliath move. Think of all the other stores in and around that intersection who have come and gone in the last 30-40 years.
When the chain expanded into/all over SoCal, it seemed like a half-hearted effort. I’m sure you remember Mars Music.

i don't know if GC impacted them as much as how their store functioned.

one of the sales guys used to play guitars at super loud volume, and he encouraged others to do the same, so whenever i was trying to actually test amps or cabs, i couldn't really get an idea of how they sounded. only once in over 20 years have i managed to buy something - not even when using cash - in under 40 minutes. the one exception a bag of picks i paid for with cash, and it took about 25 minutes. there were always issues, someone would need to confer with another sales guy or call the manager, their own system would confuse them, something had been changed in the system. yet i could trade a guitar at guitar center, pay for one i had had my eye on, and be out the door in 20 minutes with no weirdness at all.

we had a layaway at hollywood sam ash, and when we went to pay it off, they couldn't find the guitar for an hour - it turned out to be somewhere it wasn't supposed to be. the case for that guitar was so lost that they had to call us after they found it days later.

once, we traded them 3 basses and guitars to pay for a guitar my husband fell i love with, it took about 2 hours - the store had been closed for some time by the time we were done.

i could go on and on - oh, wait - i did! - with stories about sam ash hollywood. according to many musicians i've played known, my experiences were pretty typical.

 

[KohanMike]

I've always had good experiences in the Hollywood store, been going there for years. I always felt that the Hollywood store had better stock than Guitar Center across the street. Sam Ash web chat just said the Hollywood store is the West Coast Flagship.

 

[KohanMike]

The Hollywood store just verified that 18 stores are closing, including Hollywood, CA.

 

[80jazz]

I don't have one in my area, but I am sorry to hear this.

 

[Core Creek]

I just went to the one on 34th street in November… I never even realized it had moved there. It was actually half decent. The one in Carle Place has sucked for awhile. The one out near me in Neshaminy Pa and King of Prussia are pretty decent.

 

[Barticus]

34th NYC was the flagship store, wasn’t it?
Larry Hartke had a little mini store in the corner there, cool place.

I was in the Sam Ash in NYC about 6-7 years ago and was looking at the basses and started talking to a guy with a white T-shirt and a black leather vest on, he looked familiar, but didn’t give it a second thought at the time.

He told me a great story about the Thumb (in the display case) that Jack signed and sent to him. I then had to ask, are you Larry? Hey chuckled and said, yep they let me hang out in this corner and do my own thing.

After about an hour of conversation, great stories about some of the pro players, and disgusting the historical cabinets that were sitting there in the bass corner… I had played nearly every event bass he had in the bass corner, he then invited my buddy and I down to his favorite Irish pub a couple of blocks away… we finished the day by having a couple of pints together. It was a fun day and memorable experience, for an otherwise boring biz trip.

 

[Relsom]

I had a Rickenbacker bass on backorder for a month. After a month I got a better discount with a new code and ordered one again. Last week, after 4 days I got a notification that they cancelled my orders. Yesterday, when I was finally able to reach my salesman, his excuse was that they weren't allowed to sell them that low and if I wanted one I had to pay full price.... and wait a year or more. Nope...that ain't gonna happen.
Looks like this experience fortold the event that the OP was about.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

I have not entered a physical music store in more than a decade. But you wouldn't know that from a decade's worth of online charges! Physical stores are a dying breed from the past.

 

[Relsom]

I don't know if my store is on the list. Quite possible since the GC is right next door. If so, I guess Johnny Lee Long will have to find somewhere else to dump his rejects unless he's willing to deal with GC.