I'm a nomad

[vchizzle]

In the 90's, I had a store I always shopped at. I had a guy, in said store that always did me right. I didn't have to worry, or question or research pricing. That store kinda shut down. Found a new store. Not quite what the other one was, but they treated me right. Internet sales boom began and they didn't keep up and eventually shut down. Since then, I've been a wanderer. I have no home. Now I'm used to finding what I want wherever it may be. In this day and age, want it now, get it now, I have a hard time being willing to wait. I feel like it's hard to find a store that carries amps, guitars and pedals that I want. I don't feel like I get the good prices anymore because I'm not remotely loyal to any dealer. Maybe it's a little more cut throat now with the Internet boom and there aren't great prices to be had anymore. Or maybe it's because I'm not a loyal customer anywhere. Whatever the case, I miss brick and mortar stores that have anything you could want. I miss having a home base that I can walk into and try out, find what I like. I miss not worrying about if I'm getting the best possible deal.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Unfortunately I think the Internet has almost destroyed brick n mortar...I work in a privately owned placed in Maryland, and we are constantly matching internet prices...I'm just glad we carry decent amps, effects, and PRSi...plenty of cool face time with actual people...changed strings for a couple beginners today and had a blast shooting the crap with them...THATS what's missing with the internet!!

 

[jfb]

I do most all of my shopping at a store local to me. They carry damn near everything brand you can think of and I can try what I want in store. They also have a great net presence. I consider myself fortunate in this regard. Being able to simply visit or talk shop when you aren't necessarily looking to purchase something is part of the gear addiction fun.

 

[CoreyT]

I buy most of my accessories like pedals, Pedaltrain pedal boards, cables, etc online, but every PRS guitar I own and my incoming SE Angelus Standard have been from the same brick and mortar store about twelve miles from me.
For buying a guitar I like dealing with him, and also that he sets up every guitar before it leaves, and offers another free setup whenever I want to drop it off.
I even bought my Mesa Mark Five 25 and matching cabs from him.

If he closed down in the future, there are other PRS dealers in the area, but not as close as this one.

 

[CVS]

I buy almost everything musical (as well as guitar repairs) from a small local store - they always match internet pricing. I like the service and know all of the employees by name and most times you can try out guitars and amps in relative peace and quiet. Their business model has changed over the years and now I think they make more $ from repairs of guitars and amps and reselling used guitars.

 

[vchizzle]

The closest decent store is an hour+ away. A PRS deal with any decent stock is 2 1/2 hours. Back in the day, I never paid what was on the price tag. Feels like ya gotta fight tooth and nail to get any sort of discount these days.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I want to open a shop that only carries PRS guitars and MESA amps. It'll be called Middle Age Music and I'll kick people out like the soup nazi.

 

[watelessness]

I am fortunate to have a local dealer which has grown the business by providing superior service while carrying a great selection of products at competitive prices. I like to walk in and have the staff yell "Norm". Great place to hang out and talk about gear, tone quest, gigs, etc.

 

[veinbuster]

I still like visiting real stores and mostly buy from them. Most of the ones I like are a fair ways from home though.

 

[DHW]

Tell me about it... There are 4 guitar centers up here in the cities and they used to have a few core line instruments in there pretty much all the time but never any SE's which is what I was looking for at the time. Now I would like to get an s2 or core instrument and 1 of the 4 has a couple s2's and none stock core line unless it was something traded in. Another dealer in the metro stocks 1 s2 in each flavor and some se's. Another only gets in a couple a year and they are usually on the higher end only. Dealer NW of here an hour just ebayed all their prs guitars and says they are done. That leaves me driving 3 hours and everything new is typically artist packages which drives the price up. I'd love to have a place with a full range of the packages in stock. Even if you look at the online peddlers you'd notice very little actually in stock, most stuff has to be ordered which means a long wait. The one benefit to many of the online places when you are buying something 2000-4000+ is no sales tax which ends up being a big chunk of change. The local shops simply can not compete there and here that's $200 on your basic run of the mill custom 24 base level instrument.

 

[vchizzle]

Tell me about it... There are 4 guitar centers up here in the cities and they used to have a few core line instruments in there pretty much all the time but never any SE's which is what I was looking for at the time. Now I would like to get an s2 or core instrument and 1 of the 4 has a couple s2's and none stock core line unless it was something traded in. Another dealer in the metro stocks 1 s2 in each flavor and some se's. Another only gets in a couple a year and they are usually on the higher end only. Dealer NW of here an hour just ebayed all their prs guitars and says they are done. That leaves me driving 3 hours and everything new is typically artist packages which drives the price up. I'd love to have a place with a full range of the packages in stock. Even if you look at the online peddlers you'd notice very little actually in stock, most stuff has to be ordered which means a long wait. The one benefit to many of the online places when you are buying something 2000-4000+ is no sales tax which ends up being a big chunk of change. The local shops simply can not compete there and here that's $200 on your basic run of the mill custom 24 base level instrument.

There are several independent owned stores which carry lots of PRS across the whole line. Dave's is about 2 hours. They have TONS. They're kinda light on pedals and don't have many amps I like. Most big box stores don't stock much because they sell piles of lower priced instruments- that's their bread a butter. I can't blame them much. I'm tired of walking into my local stores and there just being nothing I want to play or buy. Which leaves me to online...don't have a problem with that, I miss the days of hitting a store, wondering what cool stuff they might have. I just don't have time to make a 4+ hour round trip most of the time. It's a full day event if you spend any significant time there. Just feeling nostalgic, I guess. Been listening to a lot of 90's music lately too.

 

[solacematt]

The internet, and for a time, guitar center, really killed the mom and pop store. June of 2016 will be ten years that my former boss closed his music store. It was actually the first music store I went to when I first started playing guitar ten years before. I ended up getting a job there after coming off of a tour and returning to college in 2004 since it was so conveniently close to my campus (only a five minute drive!). That last year was tough as people would come in and complain about 6.00 for a pack of strings saying they could drive to guitar center and pay 5.00. We constantly had to explain that we were a small store and GC was a huge company so they got a better deal and were able to charge less then a small place like us. So people would (supposedly) waste the gas to drive 40 minutes south to GC for a pack of strings and whatever else they may have been pushed into when they went in. This unfortunately was an all too common story. Another was people coming in, trying something out and then saying they were going to buy it online and just wanted to come in ad try it out. I would tell them to go to GC for that since all of the radio ads said that 'they love when you touch the stuff.' I guess that would explain the guitars that looked used, loose input jacks and missing toggle switches I hear you though, it seems like the days of walking into a cool independent store are over.

 

[CoreyT]

Another reason why I like my local store so much.
Plenty of SEs, S2s, and a few Core PRS are always there.
I hope he can hold out for a long time, and he is in just a small strip mall location, but it is as a hub along a major route where he gets lots of exposure.

 

[László]

Hmmm. I don't worry about getting the best deal. I worry about getting the best sales information, and the best after-the-sale service. What's the point of dropping the kind of coin we drop on a PRS guitar, and if there's an issue that needs to be dealt with down the road, it's "Who the hell are you again??"

Scouring the internet for the very best deal is the thing that kills off the very mom/pop brick and mortar stores that we profess to really like! There has to be a way to keep the lights on, and buy the family groceries, and if you're a store owner there has to be a profit. Make the profit too small, and you kill the stores, because who wants to be in business to not be able to make a living?

Yes, of course I want a reasonable price, but it has to be balanced by personal service. So I buy guitars from one store, from a guy I have a great business relationship with, and I get deals I feel good about on top of everything else. A guitar isn't a widget. It's a personal instrument I obsess over, quite obviously. So it's worth it to me to cultivate a good relationship with a store I'm happy with and feel good about.

A good relationship also saves time. I don't have to explain to Jack Gretz who I am, what I'm about, what I like, what I need, etc, and he doesn't have to explain to me what he's all about, and what he can do for me. We are way past that. So I have a home when it comes to guitars. And...I don't mind waiting for a special order. It's always a win-win, we're both happy about the deals. As it happens, Jack's prices are darn good.

I have similar relationships with vendors who sell me pro audio gear. I do believe that there has to be a balance between an outlet for goods, and the kind of relationships that make life more enjoyable, and smoother.

 

[veinbuster]

Well said Les.

 

[sleary]

I go to my local long and McQuade (guitar Center equivelent ) at least once a week. I often just chit chat with most of the guys. Very relaxed environment and if any problems with any purchase , it's taken care of right away. I don't buy online normally because I like to play before I buy. They don't however carry much Prs but can order me in anything.

I rather get good customer service before and after I buy because that builds my loyalty. Having human interaction is what appeals to me the most and rather not deal with people over the Internet .

Oh and if I'm not in my local long and McQuade for over two weeks , I get a phone call because they think something happened to me lol

 

[vchizzle]

Hmmm. I don't worry about getting the best deal. I worry about getting the best sales information, and the best after-the-sale service. What's the point of dropping the kind of coin we drop on a PRS guitar, and if there's an issue that needs to be dealt with down the road, it's "Who the hell are you again??"

Scouring the internet for the very best deal is the thing that kills off the very mom/pop brick and mortar stores that we profess to really like! There has to be a way to keep the lights on, and buy the family groceries, and if you're a store owner there has to be a profit. Make the profit too small, and you kill the stores, because who wants to be in business to not be able to make a living?

Yes, of course I want a reasonable price, but it has to be balanced by personal service. So I buy guitars from one store, from a guy I have a great business relationship with, and I get deals I feel good about on top of everything else. A guitar isn't a widget. It's a personal instrument I obsess over, quite obviously. So it's worth it to me to cultivate a good relationship with a store I'm happy with and feel good about.

A good relationship also saves time. I don't have to explain to Jack Gretz who I am, what I'm about, what I like, what I need, etc, and he doesn't have to explain to me what he's all about, and what he can do for me. We are way past that. So I have a home when it comes to guitars. And...I don't mind waiting for a special order. It's always a win-win, we're both happy about the deals. As it happens, Jack's prices are darn good.

I have similar relationships with vendors who sell me pro audio gear. I do believe that there has to be a balance between an outlet for goods, and the kind of relationships that make life more enjoyable, and smoother.

I think you've missed the point a little bit. The only reason I'm at where I'm at is because both of the decent stores near me shut down. The only time I shopped outside those stores was if it was a brand they didn't carry.
I'm far too picky about what I want, to scour the internet on price of a guitar. The specifics of the guitar are more important. Anything else, online prices are the same at most stores on pedals, amps, cabs, etc. The only way you're getting "a deal" is if you go to the store or talk to someone at the store. That's really the part that I miss, is having a relationship with a store/sales person with them that I can go in and get a fair price. Knowing that if there's an issue later, I won't be left for dead. I'm not looking for some bargain basement pricing that blows the competition out of the water. I'm not unreasonable, I understand everyone needs to make a living.

 

[László]

I think you've missed the point a little bit. The only reason I'm at where I'm at is because both of the decent stores near me shut down. The only time I shopped outside those stores was if it was a brand they didn't carry.

Yeah I probably missed the point a little bit, sorry about that, but you know me, I always have a rant...er...point of my own to make!

 

[DHW]

The one that gets me is when GC has their 15% off coupons. The exclusions basically list the entire product range they carry and excludes anything not on the shelf but when you walk in they give it to you on anything you want, in stock or not... Makes it hard to shop around when any other vendor, local or internet, will not price match because of their listed exclusions. I'd love to shop mom and pop but when we talk about hundreds of dollars, maybe even 500+ on an item it makes it hard to swallow full price. I get it, they need to put food on the table but I need to keep food on my table as well.