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Matthew, I know the experience. Plenty of good help and one snobby owner. We had a huge music store to the east of me. Hundreds of guitars. A forty foot section of wall with three rows of basses alone. Everything from very high end to stuff that looked like guitars. A wide selection of amps and accessories. Even a vintage instrument room. Had singed photos of every big name artist that has toured threw St. Louis all over the walls. The owner of this place treated me like toilet food from day one. You could watch his employees cringe from the way this guy would talk to costumers. Right at the register. To be perfectly honest I was glad to see this store close. Felt bad for the crew of great people that worked there.
There are two music stores less than a five minute walking distance from where we have our monthly gatherings in St. Louis. It actually costs me less to buy things at one of them than it does on Ebay. No shipping charges. Both of these stores are great. Completely different from one anther. One has all the modern gear and accessories. The other is more acoustic and vintage. Always have people milling around or playing on something. Then there are a hand full within a five minute drive from the same location. Including a Guitar Center. Haven't been to all of them. Only four. But each store made me feel good from the time I walked in. Derring and after a sale. It's a good feeling to walk out of a music store and feel appreciated. You want to go back.
There is one store in St. Louis that not only has lessons but live demonstrations as well. They'll have product demos, people from touring bands, who's who of past music. They have a large room just for this. Another store has an in house pro recording studio. They also offer lessons in almost every stringed and percussion instrument you can think of. Both places offer equipment rentals. They offer more than you could get off line.
I'm lucky to have a great little shop around the corner and I even work there once in a while. They have a decent selection of beginner to intermediate instruments, amps and sheet music, plenty of strings and accessories, but the bread and butter is lessons. 10 tiny rooms that are filled to the brim with students every night of the week. The lessons are what brings them in and the sales are the gravy on top. We will tell people to order online if they're looking for something in particular or we know we can't beat a deal and folks are really appreciative. It's been going strong for 10 years with no signs of slowing down.
I'm also lucky that my day job takes me to Lansing, MI a couple days a week and I'm only a few minutes away from Elderly Instruments. The greatest music store in the world. Their policy is to let anyone pick up any instrument and start playing. None of this "please ask for assistance" stuff. They let me pick through things like banjo skins to find the one I like. It's like heaven on earth.
Two very different models, but the common theme is down to earth customer service without the holier-than-thou attitude.
Yup, they do it right.
Yup. Lessons--coupled with merchandising picks and method books--is the way to pay the rent. Just like live performance is the only way to make a living playing. Otherwise the "money guys" can suck all the profit out of the operation and you're just working to make money for someone else.
I've got GREAT local store just a few blocks away. They are small but carry a ton of great stuff, (Guitars) because they do a lot of consignment stuff. They carry my stuff on consignment 20% Consignment is a good deal for them because they don't pay for inventory but still make some off the sale. It's good for me because I don't have time to mess with the sales end. The owners are not just retailers, they are players, both in local bands. They are also great consultants for me. They let me know what people are saying about the stuff I make, advise me on how to tweak what I'm doing to sell more. It's a great relationship. They can't compete on parts, but they are cool with that and help when they can.
Interestingly I only found out these guys were in my home town after I bought something on ebay from them.
Don't fight the net, be the net
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