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Sam Ash is closing all stores, evidently

When I was a college student I went to the campus store to buy a family member some swag - and the campus store did the same thing, only the 'discounted price' was higher than the presale price! No joke.

JCP tried just setting the price lower, no coupons or sales and they almost went out of business. Back to sales all the time, same price, but people like thinking they got a bargain and math is apparently hard.
 
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Sam Ash finally announced it on Facebook, about 10 mins ago.

Screenshot_20240502_113823_Facebook~2.jpg
 
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I was in a Sam Ash in the early 90's, been a musical farts store 2 OR 3 times and GC half a dozen. Local, privately owned store down the road about 15 miles, good store, savvy owner... Wintersound in Gloucester Virginia. I do Reverb occasionally, Juststrings and MF... Sweetwater a few times but MF purchases hit my porch 3 to 4 days earlier than SW.
 
When I was still in AZ I bought quite a bit of gear from the Sam Ash store on West Cactus road. The store was nice, well stocked, and the people who worked there knew their stuff. They knew what PRO's needed as far as service and sales go. I just went to their site and saw this notice. Pretty obvious the store is closing.

ALL SALES FINAL FOR PURCHASES MADE AFTER MAY 1ST 2024

Beginning May 2, 2024, all sales are final and no returns are accepted except for damaged merchandise. If your purchase arrives damaged, please refuse the shipment and have it returned to us.

If you have a problem or question of any kind, call us at 1-800-472-6274. We will do whatever it takes to put make things right. We want you to be completely happy with your purchase and our service.

Damaged and defective items

For obvious damage, just refuse the shipment and we’ll make it right. For hidden damage or defects, call our Customer Service at 1-800-472-6274 and we’ll send you a shipping label so you can return the item at our expense

For Purchases Made Before May 2nd 2024

Our 45 day satisfaction guarantee still applies to your purchase. Full details of this policy can be found Invalid Link Removed
 
He mentioned San Diego, if so there is 1 Sam Ash and a Guitar Center pretty close to it (La Mesa). GC has another branch up in San Marcos that is about 30mins away from the other GC.

If you're referring to my post regarding a RIC bass. The date years ago was 1973. The dealer in SD was Apex music. I believe they are also closed down now as well. IIRC the competitor who had the RIC was Albert's Music and I believe the location I drove too was in El Cajon but as I said it was years ago. By the time I got to the store it was late afternoon and I had a long drive back to Yuma AZ ahead of me. I just wanted to grab and go by that time.
 
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If you're referring to my post regarding a RIC bass. The date years ago was 1973. The dealer in SD was Apex music. I believe they are also closed down now as well. IIRC the competitor who had the RIC was Albert's Music and I believe the location I drove too was in El Cajon but as I said it was years ago. By the time I got to the store it was late afternoon and I had a long drive back to Yuma AZ ahead of me. I just wanted to grab and go by that time.

Oh wow, yeah definitely not GC and Sam Ash then.
 
Probably the Cherry Hill stores, right next to the Cherry Hill Mall. The other SA locations in NJ are Edison and I think Paramus? The GC stores aren't that close for those, though they are relatively near. But, in Cherry Hill SA and GC are a couple of hundred feet from each other.

Actually, he was asking about the independently owned music store I was referring to in the second paragraph of my prior post. I PM'd him details, but for anyone else curious it's The Laboratory in Blackwood Home | The Laboratory (Heh, their old location is actually where I snagged that preowned Guitar Factory 6-string I used to own. Pity that bass was a 12.5 pound bruiser, otherwise I'd probably still have it. That was a boutique instrument hand built by the guys who first worked with Michael Tobias).

And yay for NJ connections! I first moved to Bergen county when I was about 9 (I was born in The Netherlands), currently live in Gloucester county, and spent several years of higher-ed schooling in Middlesex county.
 
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This doesn't really affect me since I'm in Canada and we don't have Sam Ash here but I sympathize with those that will miss it or are sad to hear of brick & mortar stores closing. We have Long & Mcquade here as what I believe is essentially our GC equivalent. Where I am we have some mom & pop independent music stores though and they seem to do OK as brick & mortar.

I'm curious, does GC and/or Sam Ash do much for rentals? We have an independent music store here that has a pretty large stock of instruments, but the majority of their revenue is from the rental side of things. They rent out PA's but also have large trucks that transform into stages with lighting rigs and everything.
 

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