Steve's Music "Restructuring "

[emal]

Despite elitist customer service, a reputation of snobbism, a Canadian institution is going away and restructuring.
As many Canadians musicians have probably bought or at least entered the store, it's weird to know they too have to change with the times
And even if the salespeople in the Montreal store would make me feel like an idiot as a teen in the 90s, I loved going to the old store and it's crooked floors..
Montreal institution Steve’s Music Store closing locations amid restructuring

 

[TomB]

Despite elitist customer service, a reputation of snobbism, a Canadian institution is going away and restructuring.
As many Canadians musicians have probably bought or at least entered the store, it's weird to know they too have to change with the times
And even if the salespeople in the Montreal store would make me feel like an idiot as a teen in the 90s, I loved going to the old store and it's crooked floors..
Montreal institution Steve’s Music Store closing locations amid restructuring

Sorry to hear it. Back in the (pre-Amazon) day I often stopped in when in Montreal - even ran up there from Burlington once to buy a special pickguard they had in stock. It was a fun candy store and staff never hassled me - but I was no teenager .

 

[emal]

Yeah they had a reputation...but was still a really cool store with lotsa history
The new store was nicer but generic..

 

[iqi616]

Steve's Ottawa only moved recently. It must be tough to compete with Long & McQuade.

 

[bass12]

It's sad but entirely predictable given the impact of the internet and the presence of Long & Mcquade. But the Montreal store will remain (at least for now).

 

[emal]

A lot of smaller shops closed due to L&M.. but it's hard to beat their customer service and their return policy

 

[bass12]

A lot of smaller shops closed due to L&M.. but it's hard to beat their customer service and their return policy

Their online store is also much better than what Steve's has to offer.

 

[Kubicki Fan]

I thought I was just a bit insecure.. maybe they were snobs

It would explain the facial expressions and body language when, as a stark raving neophite, I kept hogging, and eventually buying, the Kubicki Ex-Factor (probably the only one they've ever sold) with the gold coated strings, crappy setup, and huge price tag.

Maybe they were right about me after all, LOL

 

[expatmuso]

Yeah, I get the snob-vibe reference. I bought my first proper bass there, a Fender Jazz MIM in '99. It turned out to be a good bass for me, which I still own. So I have fond memories of the place, it was kind of a Mecca back in the day.

 

[longfinger]

I thought Steve's customer service was meh back then as well, too many performing musicians working the sales while they really wanted be out on gigs.

But when I went there again around 2015 I was shocked how good the front desk service was. Very helpful people. I mentioned this to friends and they all agree the quality of service went up. When they moved, I thought the store was better in many real ways.

If you want to talk about bad service, there was "Jack's Music Store" just next door. They were really bad.

Still it's bad about the closings. It's great for folks to have physical stores to go in and buy stuff.

 

[emal]

"Jack's Music Store"

Oh man yeah they were terrible, good point; I should've clarified that it was past experiences at Steve's. I've been to the new store 2-3 times and it wasn't like that, my bad.

 

[Root 5]

Long & McQuade have decimated the music store business. I’m not a fan. There also is much less selection now - it’s all Fender, Gibson, Ibanez.

I remember at Steve’s in the 90s seeing Alembics, Spectors, Laklands and more.

 

[Gizmot]

I met a couple of those guys back in the 90s and liked them quite a bit. They struck me as opinionated and with big personalities, but if I was a Canadian, I’d have had no problems doing business with them. I’m sad to hear about their business issues

 

[bass12]

Long & McQuade have decimated the music store business. I’m not a fan. There also is much less selection now - it’s all Fender, Gibson, Ibanez.

I remember at Steve’s in the 90s seeing Alembics, Spectors, Laklands and more.

The selection of basses in Montreal was best when Italmelodie and Archambault - and even Moog Audio - were still part of the equation. The selection of high end basses was never all that good in town, but now it’s almost all low-end to mid-range Fenders and Ibanez. It’s all about what sells easily. Anything more interesting you have to go online for.

 

[iqi616]

Long & McQuade have decimated the music store business. I’m not a fan. There also is much less selection now - it’s all Fender, Gibson, Ibanez.

I remember at Steve’s in the 90s seeing Alembics, Spectors, Laklands and more.

The location on Rideau with its inadequate parking was always a pain. In the 90s it wasn't too bad getting there but now the downtown traffic is ridiculous even on the weekend and there are half a dozen less-inconvenient music stores within 30 minutes of my place.

The move to Catherine was too little too late and even then they only moved because of the problems on Rideau, not as a strategic business move.

 

[emal]

The selection of basses in Montreal was best when Italmelodie and Archambault - and even Moog Audio - were still part of the equation. The selection of high end basses was never all that good in town, but now it’s almost all low-end to mid-range Fenders and Ibanez. It’s all about what sells easily. Anything more interesting you have to go online for.

Agreed 110%. I was too poor to buy higher end basses, but i do remember gawking at quite a few, I never get 'GAS' going into a L&M, I also remember Instruments-centric Pawnshops in the 90s, sketchier for sure but they were knowledgeable

 

[frankie5string]

I only went in a few times over the years. I think once Launch Music (Cosmo) keeled, it was game over for Steve's music. They also had decades of relatively unsavoury people working there. The Toronto store was always a mess unless you stepped into the relatively "virginal" room with the acoustic instruments and even in there, everything was dusty. I still remember that twerp who loudly corrected me on the colour of a deep purplie-red Stingray back in 1999 "It's Oxblood, you idiot!"

Um... thanks?

 

[emal]

So many similar stories about customer service LOL

 

[GrapeBass]

A lot of smaller shops closed due to L&M.. but it's hard to beat their customer service and their return policy

Long & McQuade has a policy to NOT complete with mom and pop shops. If the mom and pop store begins to falter, and option is for L&M to buy them (this is well known), yes that's true... but, they actually keep the staff and managers, the old owner often takes up a roll as head manager. Jack was proud of this plan, that's one of the reasons he was so well liked. The Long family continues this tradition.

 

[Super Bass]

I think Long and Mcquade sucks... (but I do shop there because you pretty much have to) It was better when we had more stores to shop at with different stuff. Really I prefer to shop online and can usually get better deals from Thomann in Germany.