Sam Ash is closing 18 stores

[B-Mac]

From the gear page:
Sam Ash Manhattan (& a bunch of others) closing

 

[fhm555]

In my 15 years of gear shopping in the Chicago area, I went to the local Sam Ash once. They didn't have many basses, and they literally had just two brands of bass amps, Hartke and...well, I forget. And the place was a ghost town. This was over a decade ago.

In 2021, I called the national Sam Ash line about buying a Stingray Special that, based on the color, was built two years prior. They wouldn't budge on the retail price.

So I'm not surprised about this.

Yep, a lot of folks believe brick and mortar retail is going extinct. What they fail to consider is that it is mostly corporate retail that is failing. The "any brand is good as long as it's one of the two fair trade (read: nationally fixed price) items we carry" outlet is on the endangered list, but it has been for decades. It's just a very slow slide to extinction thanks to our collective sloth and willingness to accept an easy alternative choice over the work required to get what we really want. OTOH, the downtown pawn shop with a half acre of all manner (and condition) of used gear is still thriving, at least in my neck of the woods.

 

[MCF]

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.

Got the same email.

We used to spend all day on Sunset going to all the music stores. Now only GC remains. I’m guessing that side of the street where the old Mesa store was at one end of the block and SA at the other, will be developed into high rise condos.

Canoga Park is long gone. As is Cerritos. Hollywood was the closest one to me the last few years. The Industry store was never much so I’m not surprised. I’ve never liked the Westminster store; I wonder if it’ll close too. So that leaves Torrance and Ontario? And for how long?

 

[Grinderman]

Lately I’ve been selling nickel and dime stuff to the one in the Ontario Mills Mall, at the 10 and 15, pitting them against the Rancho Cucamonga GC just to the north. It’s actually a happening place. In fact, with all this talk about “the death of shopping malls”, that whole complex is usually mobbed.

It's been a long time since I've been out that way too, though I've been thinking about going to Commercial Forest Products in Upland as of late.

I'm not much for retail shopping, plus my areas of travel shrank dramatically since COVID hit and I've only become older... so yeah, I probably need to get out more and further again.

 

[jimmydean]

Never really cared for Sam Ash , I was more into Manny's when I would play in NYC . Not surprised them closing stores , the rent in NY and CA must have been eating them up and there was no way could compete with Sweetwater .

 

[melloncollie]

I remember when the Sam Ash store in Dallas first opened in 2013. The inventory was pretty awesome for several years. More recently, the inventory is very poor. Although the Dallas store isn't specifically listed, I expect that one will be closing.

Yeah it has been years since I had been but I went there recently (within the past year) and it was kind of depressing. Mostly just Michael Kelly branded stuff. They use to have some cool gear.

 

[Aussie Player]

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.

An unfortunate truth.
I have a lot of gear but not much from SA. I have lived in many states across the US and have only ever seen 2 stores, one in Chicago which is already closed and the other in Cinci. Hate to see it and always miss them when they are gone but buying without seeing or playing is the way of the future.

The only positive which is also a negative is that it prevents impulse buying. My last one being a 1998 Warwick Thumb bass I just noticed as I walked towards the door. Missed the last one so played it and bought it unplanned. Still have it. Wonderful bass.

 

[MustangMan78]

Anyone have the full list? I've been a King of Prussia loyalist for over 20 years. Since COVID however, they just don't keep the stock that they used to. I'm also a drummer, and since they dropped Pearl (or I should say Pearl dropped them), I haven't bought anything drums from them except for some heads and sticks. As there aren't a lot of music stores around here except for Guitar Center and George's (both of which I refuse to walk into), they've always been my go to for last minute items.

 

[ELG60]

That's too bad. The Clearwater store is huge. Used to be a Thoroughbred Music iirc.

 

[J Wilson]

It's inevitable for this sort of thing to happen as the online vs. in-person percentages continually adjust.

When I moved to Nashville in 1990, there were more than a few traditional mom and pops that had been here for years. Most of them got winnowed out when Guitar Center, Sam Ash, and MARS came to town, and the few that withstood that finally succumbed once online passed a certain point.

Now, the landscape here are three world-class vintage outposts (Gruhn's, Carter's, and Rumble Seat), a full line store stocked for the big population of working musicians here (Corner Music) and then specialty shops for drums, high-end acoustics, etc., and then three area Guitar Centers and a Sam Ash, and more, as well as more than a few specialty repair shops like Nashville Amp Works several great guitar repair like Classic Ax and Glaser's.

Of course, downtown is The Gibson Garage (finally a MESA dealer, though not a lot of stock), which is funny in that there are several Gibson dealers over the places I've listed, and it's never been explained to me HOW Gibson squares that with them.

Of course, Nashville is a non-typical environment (not a lot of cities with two only-drums stores) with so many musicians and tourists who want a gee-tar, but we still have lots of brick and mortars here, and I hope that never changes.

 

[MCF]

In my 15 years of gear shopping in the Chicago area, I went to the local Sam Ash once. They didn't have many basses, and they literally had just two brands of bass amps, Hartke and...well, I forget. And the place was a ghost town. This was over a decade ago.

In 2021, I called the national Sam Ash line about buying a Stingray Special that, based on the color, was built two years prior. They wouldn't budge on the retail price.

So I'm not surprised about this.

You have CME. And I’m sure other nice stores. And you’re what, 3 1/2 hours from Sweetwater? No wonder you only went there once.

 

[ClusterFlux]

Stores come, stores go. There was a time when Mars music was going to take over. How long were they around?

This isn't a case of one store that will be inevitable replaced by another. This is about physical music stores disappearing altogether.

It is likely that a handful of high-quality and/or high-end stores will remain open in big cities, but there's going to be fewer and fewer places to try instruments in person. And given the cost of shipping a bass, you'd better be sure you want it before you order it...

 

[GregC]

You have CME. And I’m sure other nice stores. And you’re what, 3 1/2 hours from Sweetwater? No wonder you only went there once.

And Rock'n'Roll Vintage. And we had Bass Club Chicago for a long time. Not to mention the Lakland factory. It was a gear paradise. I moved away about two years ago--I miss the shops, but not the GAS.

 

[Crackle]

Yeah it has been years since I had been but I went there recently (within the past year) and it was kind of depressing. Mostly just Michael Kelly branded stuff. They use to have some cool gear.

The Dallas store had several brand new Rics a few years back. One was a 4003W that I was blown away by.

Reality is I don't visit music stores very often these days. I have an impressive collection of instruments and only really visit the store for strings or Fast Fret.

 

[higain617]

Did the Boston area have a Sam Ash? I vaguely remember shopping at one, but it could have been in NY.

 

[57pbass]

I was just in the NYC 34th Street store on Wednesday and there were lots of workers but not many customers.
The bass department at this location was really well organized and maintained..as mentioned earlier the NYC rent is insane and the NYC scene has also dried up due to to crazy overhead.

 

[micguy]

This isn't a case of one store that will be inevitable replaced by another. This is about physical music stores disappearing altogether.

It is likely that a handful of high-quality and/or high-end stores will remain open in big cities, but there's going to be fewer and fewer places to try instruments in person.

That's been happening for quite a while now. 10 years ago, there were more music stores than there are today. 20 years ago, there wore more than 10 years ago. 30 years ago, same trend. 40? yes again.

 

[Gorn]

the carle place (long island) location is across the street from a guitar center, yet somehow seems busy every time i've popped in. admittedly, that is not very often.

It's been years since I regularly bass shopped and I'd go to those two stores often. Sam Ash is farther down the road in a worse location. It was almost always empty when I was there after 5PM on weeknights mostly. The Queens Blvd Sam Ash was always busy. That store had a much better staff.

 

[Michedelic]

It's been a long time since I've been out that way too, though I've been thinking about going to Commercial Forest Products in Upland as of late.

I'm not much for retail shopping, plus my areas of travel shrank dramatically since COVID hit and I've only become older... so yeah, I probably need to get out more and further again.

I’m always scooting across the 10 or 210 for something or other, unfortunately the last couple of times were sad occasions(a celebration of life for a woman who had worked at Tower on Sunset many years ago, then to visit a cousin of my wife’s who is not doing well at the City Of Hope). But as the GC in Palm Springs leaves something to be desired, I’ll hit all the other ones along the way to Hollywood or the Valley. Otherwise, as there’s not much else out here, I love going into a variety of other places, just to see what’s there. There’s a sad little guitar store in Redlands that still manages to keep going, the Folk Store(and Rhino Records)in Claremont, Gard’s in Glendora, Imperial Vintage in Burbank, and my favorite, Caveman, east of DTLA. I might have asked before, but do you ever go to Future Music on York?

 

[Obese Chess]

As someone on the gear page said:

The 34th location has been a ghost town since day 1.

I was visiting NYC about two years ago for a friend's birthday and stumbled into the 34th St location visibly hung over one morning wearing a beanie, weightlifting shoes, and bright purple shirt that said I FEEL LIKE SH**. For reasons that escape me, people kept thinking I worked there and asking me questions. I didn't see any salesmen on the floor and there weren't many customers, so I rolled with it. I think I accidentally sold 2-3 guitars in the course of an hour or so as a joke.

Shout out to the manager for being a good sport and letting me parlay this into an employee discount on an amp, which they then shipped to me in Portland for free.