Supporting your local music retailer

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

And there's the whole TMI thing. Events of these last few years have led to many people expressing their beliefs and opinions in very loud, ugly and sometimes violent ways. My closest local music shop proprietor is one who has gone this route. I just don't want to support his business or even enter his shop anymore.

Oh boy, does that ring a bell. I was at a small guitar show here in Minnesota in 2019. I played a very fine baritone guitar from a maker who has been recognized here as being Pretty Good. For some reason, best known to himself, he decided to dump all his political opinions on me, quite out of the blue. I assume he thought I was of the same persuasion. He was wrong. I smiled and returned his lovely baritone to the stand, and moved on.

Quite disconcerting, and completely unnecessary.

[6L6]

Very lucky to have Gryphon just 20 minutes away. They always have a great supply of quality instruments, new and used, to select from.

AND... their repair shop headed by Frank Ford can't be beat.

I may pay a bit more (not always) to do business with them vs buying online, but to me it's worth it.

[whvick]

I really miss the local shops. 15 years ago I took lunch and tried out Taylors martins and others at Abraham Music in Middlesboro KY
And lots of guitars at Gibson in Corbin. I think Abraham is gone and Gibson only had a few guitars. The sales policies of the big brands were killing the small shops. And Covid was the final straw.
I hate the thought of buying a guitar online, so maybe I should just tend the small herd I have in my elder years and enjoy them. GAS may be stopped by FOOP ...Fear Of Online Purchase

[Chipotle]

I do have a number of shops if I drive an hour (or more, depending on traffic). I can still get D'Addario PBs at the local guitar center. But if you want anything outside the popular, best-selling stuff, you're out of luck.

I get it--brick and mortar can't afford to stock everything, so they stock the popular, best-selling stuff. But back in the day, it was nice to have that small store (music store, hardware store, computer store, what have you) locally owned with employees who stocked the not-to-popular stuff that was good and they liked and could turn you on to. I guess that ship has sailed, for the most part.

At least Sweetwater has good customer service and shipping is now often just a couple days.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Chipotle

...This started happening before the pandemic as well--I understand supply chains are a mess...

Indeed it did, especially in the electric end of things; without getting into the particulars of the supply chain before/during/after, count on prices getting higher, discounts getting lower (if not nonexistent - as in "MAP, take it or leave it"), brick-&-mortar dealers (both independent and chain) becoming fewer in number, breadth of selection shrinking at both the retail and production ends, and the price of luthier/small-shop instruments crossing routinely into the five-figure bracket (with a few - no names necessary here - possibly tickling the six-figure line in the not-too-distant future)...

IMO hold on to what you've got and, if you have the means, buy what you can now while things are still relatively affordable - I really don't see things getting better down the road...

[luecack]

Sat in on a local retailers “happy hour” stream (YouTube) a few weeks back, asked a few questions in the chat, that the owner answered.

Stopped in later that week, played the model I wanted, talked talked price, and bought it. It was perfect.

I feel like this kind of service is necessary these days. I am lucky enough to have 3-4 relatively large independents within an hours drive from me. This one just happens to be the largest Taylor dealer I’ve ever been too. Regularly stocking unique “demo” and “prototype” variants of standard production models (ie: unique inlays, non-standard wood combinations, etc). They made time to connect with me online, spend time with me in person, and give me a more than fair price to maintain the relationship. I was happy to walk out with something tangible, knowing that I was able to support them

[perttime]

There's 5 or 6 music stores in town, and the town isn't all that big. Their inventory of acoustic guitars isn't all that great, though, except for affordable guitars. Every single one of those brick & mortar stores has a decent online presence and they are trying to match the prices of the big online stores that are working on my continent.

[Tannin]

Originally Posted by dnf777

Brick and mortar retail are inefficient business models in terms of inventory and volume distribution.

No. There are basically two sorts of goods:

(a) Goods (and services) which can be selected and judged at a distance, such as over the Internet, and delivered the same way. Examples include recorded music, movies, computer games, guitar strings, packaged groceries - more broadly, almost any commodity product.

(b) Goods (and services) which require in-person selection: examples include fruit and vegetables, pets, good quality clothing which actually fits, real estate, and musical instruments (certainly any instrument hand made or made from natural materials).

The former are most efficiently and effectively done remotely. Strings by Mail, for example, is vastly better at strings than any local shop can ever be. The latter is only possible to execute well in person. Local shops are vastly better at providing me (or you) with a great guitar than any mail order operation can be or ever will be.

I have four local shops, they are all good in their different ways. I've bought one guitar each from three of them, and two from the other inside the last 18 months. I only wish I had enough space (and money!) to buy more guitars!

[mrjop1975]

Where I live, in Urbana-Champaign, the home of the University of Illinois, we have exactly 2 non chain music stores, plus a Guitar Center. The one independent is a Taylor, Gibson/Epiphone and Martin dealer. They have been pretty much been getting "ghosted" by there Martin rep for a while. I was contemplating getting the new Martin Streetmaster tenor ukulele through them, but they can not get any answers via email or phone at all from there rep. Taylor and Gibson and Epiphone though have been keeping them in the loop about stuff. What is bad about Martin was that they didn't even have X series or up to Road Series stuff for there usual holiday business this past year. I know that Martin had plants shut down because of the pandemic, but you would think that they would at least keep dealers in the loop about when they will XYZ in stock. I would prefer to deal with them if I could - the staff is friendly, the owner is a good all around guy, but when you simply can not get stuff local, sometimes you have to go the online route sadly enough.

[buddyhu]

Originally Posted by Tannin

No. There are basically two sorts of goods:

(a) Goods (and services) which can be selected and judged at a distance, such as over the Internet, and delivered the same way. Examples include recorded music, movies, computer games, guitar strings, packaged groceries - more broadly, almost any commodity product.

(b) Goods (and services) which require in-person selection: examples include fruit and vegetables, pets, good quality clothing which actually fits, real estate, and musical instruments (certainly any instrument hand made or made from natural materials).

The former are most efficiently and effectively done remotely. Strings by Mail, for example, is vastly better at strings than any local shop can ever be. The latter is only possible to execute well in person. Local shops are vastly better at providing me (or you) with a great guitar than any mail order operation can be or ever will be.

I have four local shops, they are all good in their different ways. I've bought one guitar each from three of them, and two from the other inside the last 18 months. I only wish I had enough space (and money!) to buy more guitars!

^ Good points.

I am happy to drive a couple of hours (sometimes more like 4 hours) to spend an afternoon trying some high quality guitars in person.

Yes, I remember the days when i only had to drive 15 minutes to an hour to visit several guitar stores...many of which had an array of guitars from Yamaha to Martin, while also having some drum kits for sale, and maybe a pedal steel guitar, and of course some electric guitars. Those were fun times! But those shops were rather inefficient even back then, before there were so many guitars to choose from (this is the pre-Taylor era, and definitely before anyone knew much about independent luthiers) and before the internet provided access and knowledge of a much vaster array of guitars.

When i go into some of the small shops that are still surviving, i see far too many ukuleles, and far too few quality guitars to win my business. And their strings cost twice as much as i would pay in the internet.

The small shops that survive (and perhaps thrive) in the intermediate term will likely have a sharpened focus, and will rely on customers who are looking for something rather particular in their guitars. They will not try to be all things to all people, because that is where the internet and/or big chain stores can undermine them, and undercut them on pricing of items that are more like commodities.

[fartamis]

Where I live in Quebec I am lucky to have a few large instrument stores within a 10 kilometer radius, and they have a huge selection, So I prefer to buy local and encourage these stores.

[Marcury]

It's always worth a call to a local store to see if they can order what you want. It's not necessarily the fastest way but most will do if they can.

[M Sarad]

I went to my downtown shop Tuesday.
Bought $50 of strings and a MIM Tele neck with Pau Ferro board.
Only 7 blocks away.

[fpuhan]

I've mourned the opportunity to just swing by my local guitar emporium and eyeball the latest and greatest. COVID has been somewhat kind to my wallet, because I find it hard to resist the impulse buy, so it's been pretty much surf the 'Net and pray. It's also easier to resist temptation when I can't fondle and pluck an instrument; just click away and it's like you never saw it...

But today is V-M Day: Victory over Masks. The CDC and even the White House are now saying masks indoors, outdoors, in crowds and wherever are no longer needed. Some governors and businesses are likely to not immediately "get back to normal," but I predict there will be a surge as more and more businesses do, and their partners and competitors see how they benefit.

I can't wait to see what new stuff my local place has. For the past year you had to make an appointment just to walk through the door. I didn't.

[DocHolliday]

I am fortunate to have a decent independent small music store 5 minutes away in my small town in OH. I buy what I can from there because I want it to be in business. I just bought 2 sets of strings yesterday. Last month, it was a tuner and case humidifier. The month before that I purchased a pair of used powered speakers.

I bought a used Taylor from there a few years ago but buying guitars is not likely in the future. They don’t carry good quality new instruments. I stop in at least once a month to see what used guitars are hanging on the wall and sometimes I play a guitar or two that interests me. The staff knows me and have always been helpful and pleasant.

What I can’t buy locally, I purchase from Sweetwater since there service is solid. I did drive an hour away to purchase a new Tak from an independent store a few months ago. There is a GC about 30 minutes but I am not a fan. I purchase stuff from there occasionally but it is a last resort.