Five, now one.
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Riffing off of a conversation I had with a music store owner the other day...
In the closest city, there used to be five music stores. I'm talking general music, where you could take music lessons, buy sheet music, a flute, a guitar or a piano, etc. There is now one.
The music store owner I was having the conversation with, is an anomaly. His store is in a smaller city (more of a large small town), but he's doing okay. He runs a smaller store, but he has decent instruments... Martin and Ibanez guitars, Ludwig percussion, Kawai digital pianos, Korg keyboards, along with some other stuff. No marching band instruments, though. He will order a Kawai acoustic or hybrid piano for you, but he usually only has one or two in the shop, usually the lower end Kawai verticals, no grands.
His background is in acoustic guitar, mostly gospel and bluegrass. His wife has a music degree and teaches piano in an adjacent studio, that also houses a couple of rooms for guitar and percussion lessons. His son works a full-time job elsewhere, but he does help his dad with some luthier work and a few lessons.
The shop does have a niche in this part of the state...They are known for church audio systems and solutions. There's enough of that to warrant doing it, but not enough to depend upon for regular income.
He does gripe about internet competition, but said they do a pretty good business setting up guitars after people buy them from Musician's Friend or whoever, and get a guitar with setup problems. He mused about people who bought them, saying that he preps his guitars as part of the sale before they go out the door, and his total price is actually cheaper than the internet cost + his fee for working on one of those guitars.
So, it's a true mom and pop shop. Very low overhead. One that has managed to stay in business, when multiple stores in a much larger city have folded.
So is this guy's business an anomaly? Or maybe the future of a brick and mortar music store? What has he done right? What has he done wrong or missed out on?
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I wouldn’t say an anomoly, still fairly common here at least in cities. The owner of one in town here though has told me that what is difficult is that brand name instrument makers are increasingly demanding that shops take minimum inventory numbers. In the current market for high end instruments that is forcing some independents to relinquish their dealership agreements with suppliers that often include repair service rights.
Elbows up!
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There are three independent music stores within a 1/2 hour drive of where I live. One (the smallest) is just around the corner, another one is good, and the third is truly excellent, particularly for band instruments - I bought my latest sax there. Then we have a slightly crappy guitar focused place, and of course a Guitar Center maybe 20 miles away.
It's still not like it was in the 80's, but it's not that bad.
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I wouldn’t say an anomoly, still fairly common here at least in cities. The owner of one in town here though has told me that what is difficult is that brand name instrument makers are increasingly demanding that shops take minimum inventory numbers. In the current market for high end instruments that is forcing some independents to relinquish their dealership agreements with suppliers that often include repair service rights.
@Renauda said in Five, now one.:
I wouldn’t say an anomoly, still fairly common here at least in cities. The owner of one in town here though has told me that what is difficult is that brand name instrument makers are increasingly demanding that shops take minimum inventory numbers. In the current market for high end instruments that is forcing some independents to relinquish their dealership agreements with suppliers that often include repair service rights.
The guy I was talking to, is a Martin dealer. He said he had to chew that one long and hard before making a commitment due to the very factor you mentioned - Martin requires a certain buy-in and inventory level, and folks around here aren't panting to buy D-28's. But he has done okay with them, mostly because his upper-end competition in the larger city is a Taylor dealer, and in this part of the world, the Martins sell better because of the music being played.
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@Renauda said in Five, now one.:
I wouldn’t say an anomoly, still fairly common here at least in cities. The owner of one in town here though has told me that what is difficult is that brand name instrument makers are increasingly demanding that shops take minimum inventory numbers. In the current market for high end instruments that is forcing some independents to relinquish their dealership agreements with suppliers that often include repair service rights.
The guy I was talking to, is a Martin dealer. He said he had to chew that one long and hard before making a commitment due to the very factor you mentioned - Martin requires a certain buy-in and inventory level, and folks around here aren't panting to buy D-28's. But he has done okay with them, mostly because his upper-end competition in the larger city is a Taylor dealer, and in this part of the world, the Martins sell better because of the music being played.
The fellow here gave up his dealership rights with Beard and National but bit the bullet like your man with Martin as he is the go to service shop for Country, Bluegrass and Country Blues players around here. Now the only resonators he carries are Rayco’s - which are every bit as good as Beard or Scheerhorn/National instruments but not as widely known - despite being sometimes used by Jerry Douglas and Rob Ickes for session work.
