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Guitar Center fail

spe111 said:
... because you get to have stuff in stock in your brick and mortar store and have it available online.

I believe strongly in this too. And it will probably be true for other retailers as well, not just the music stores, but any stores selling stuff other than food. People have a tendency to want to check out stuff first hand and then perhaps order it online. The brick and mortar store will be the showroom for the stuff that people then order online.
 
I'm pretty lucky in this regard. There's a small shop in town, but their stock-on-hand, like many small shops, has declined precipitously in recent years. Their main business of late is renting orchestral and band instrument to parents of school kids. (Our school district generally doesn't supply instruments.)

On the other hand, Alto Music's main showroom is about 15 minutes up the road, and they carry just about anything you might be hankering for. The place is HUGE! They have a walk in humidor just for acoustics guitars, with everything from Epiphone EJ series, to Martin D-45s, hanging on the walls. And, there's an employee who works inside the humidor who will be glad to help you with anything you want to try out. (Turns out I'm not a Martin guy....) I have also yet to find an uninformed floor person working there. They know the business, and the instruments they sell.

But, I also think that it's their online presence that makes the brick-and-mortar possible. And, they've opened 2 other locations. (Their original shop was in Dutchess county, and the Middletown store became necessary because they were getting too big! The original location also remains open.) Don't get me wrong, they do a brisk business, and there are always other people in the store when I go there. (And because my days off rotate, a lot of times I go are not exactly "prime time".) But, that's a lot of real estate to finance... 

Check them out: https://www.altomusic.com/
 
A-Sharp music in Renton is a cut above many in that it still holds a high end quality list of inventory and it is completely guitar-centric, so none of the other fluff than many other brick & mortar mom & pop shops end up with as they age out.
 
GC also needs to stop pretending their B&M stores and online are competing businesses. Perhaps they are but it's a bad decision if they treat them that way. Two different prices. Not having stuff in stock. My local GC wouldn't even stock something like the Boss VE-8.  Acoustic effects pedals are pretty mainstream these days and probably a better seller than $2k electric guitars and amps.
 
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPAOxrH7Ro[/youtube]

Don't discount the Amazon effect.  Alto music in rockland county closed. I was in Richmond va at a mom and pop last week and the manager told me that if they didnt own the land theyed be out of there. But all businesses are experiencing the same thing.  Western and central ny are depopulating. Hudson valley and nyc are growing. Amazon is building an hq in queens so those people are in for it. Amazon gets billions in tax breaks that we get to pay for. 

Across the river from me Amazon is building one of those warehouses where they turn the workers into robots ...

Shoot I forgot where I was headed with this but there's a song in there somewhere, something to do with robots, guitars and girlfriends at the amazon warehouse ...

Binary solo: 0010100100001011111001010100!
 
It seems like I can’t go to my local store and try stuff out anymore to look at it. I’m also pleased that between YouTube, reverb, stores with great phone support and the net in general I’m able to buy just what I want either direct from the manufacturer or from people / smaller stores.

Overall the quality seems higher and the money is hopefully going a little bit closer to the folks that make the stuff but I am sad that I can’t touch stuff as much before buying it.
 
Which put me in mind of this nugget from the Rush back catalog:


[youtube]r3Dju2i4FZw[/youtube]
 
How did Rush do a video about working at Amazon before Amazon even existed? :bananaguitar:
 
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Basically, the state is running a $3 billion deficit and Amazon wants $3 billion in incentives ... those people have  plenty of money ... fuggedaboutit!  I'm tired of giving these companies money ... it's like the hunger games.  I see what they did to the quality of life in Seattle, I could NOT afford it.
 
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/08/tech/amazon-new-york-hq/index.html
 
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