Guitar Center was recently purchased by Bain Capital and the person who owns Bain Capital is none other than former presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. I was recently told from Guitar Center management that all Guitar Centers nationwide will discontinue the practice of accepting "bartering" on products from customers. In other words, no more dickering! None!! If Mitt and Bain Capital hold on to Guitar Center I think there is a possibility of turning things around for them financially. He has stated himself that every business venture he has undertaken has proven successful. Hopefully Guitar Center will be another feather in his cap he can boast about too.

Best,
Mike

Frank, just hold on a minute, your store is not for sale and can't be. I think you're great prices would disappear if one of the big guys bought you out.

I have NEVER demoed a keyboard (or anything else, AFAIK) at a store, then gone and got it online. You keep doing that, and sooner or later (mostly sooner) you CAN'T demo things in a store, and HAVE to do what so many of us are faced with right now. Buy the damn thing just to be able to demo it...

Perhaps this trend is exactly WHY stores won't stock many MOTL and TOTL arrangers any more. Too many trying, but not buying.

Keeping a good relation with a store is pretty important. There have been times when the local store has saved my a$$ by giving me a loaner for something that went on the fritz (that I had bought there) for a gig that day. Try getting THAT from an online retailer! My only problem is I tend to keep my keyboards quite a lot longer than many here, so they don't get quite the turnover they would like

I have bought things online that I've tried a friend's one out, and my local don't normally stock it, so they dislike returns. But if you try it in a store, just how much is that experience worth...? Quite a chunk of money, I'd say. Shipping and restocking fees can make returns to online vendors quite an expensive habit. At least the local store, although he charges a bit more, allows you to make SURE it's the right decision before you buy. No returns needed - and THAT saves you money.

I wonder just how many of us that have returned or sold a very recent purchase from online would have NEVER bought it in the first place if they had only had an opportunity to play it in the store a couple of times, first?

I know that online, you can save maybe 10-15% over a local dealer, but factor in how much further you'll have to drive NEXT time to try one out before you buy, or the restocking fee for an unwanted online purchase, and it doesn't seem so high a price to pay, anymore!

Thanks for adding to my comments, Diki. That's pretty much what I'm getting at. Both of my present keyboards were bought online, but they are used items from private parties. But when I bought my G70, I went straight to my local dealer who knows me well over many years of doing business. The deal I got from him was better than anything I could get at any GC or online store or even eBay. And, as you said, the service factor is worth so much.

Too bad the manufacturers make it so difficult for smaller retailers to stock a small amount of TOTL and MOTL arrangers. As was said, when you can't demo them, it makes your choices much smaller.

I too like to buy things in a store. Yes, I can sometimes get a better deal online. I bought my Neumann U 87 mic on ebay because it was almost a thousand dollars less that GC. However, I bought my Tyros at GC because they had a good price on it. I like to visit a music store fairly often so I know the guys there and can talk to them and get advice when I need something. I used to try to deal with local merchants, but most of them are out of business now. My approach now when I need a new piece of gear is to decide where it makes the most sense to buy it from. So I do hope the internet doesn't drive all the stores out of business.

Joe

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Songman55
Joe Ayala

Is it just me, but I don't consider Guitar Center a "local" store. Even though it is located nearby.
The local stores have all but disappeared from my area in favor of the chains that all handle the same merchandise.

Thanks Mike. The story on ABC was in the cobwebs of my mind, which for some reason confused the names.

As for the sales tax, it's increasing just about everywhere, and some states are nailing internet sales with their local sales tax as well. They did the same thing with the mail order business when they created a reciprocal agreement between states for collecting taxes on items sold out of state. Maryland just jumped from 5 to 6 percent, which is a 20% percent increase.

Thanks again,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

I'm not sure how a small local music retailer can compete on any level with Guitar Center when it comes to pricing. While I'm certain Cassp's deal from his local retailer was a good one, I highly doubt it was cheaper than GC's price could have been had he negotiated a bit.

Guitar Center is the Wal-Mart of musical gear and as such they often dictate how much they will pay for a certain product to carry it in their stores. What that means is they buy the product from the manufacturers at a much lower price than any mom and pop store can (typically 10%-15% or more cheaper). That gives GC the ability to sell at much lower prices if they choose to which isn't always the case. Of course you can negotiate the price at GC and if you're a good haggler, you'll get a deal that few if any other stores can match except maybe Sam Ash.

FYI... Only GC managers have the ability to override their computer pricing system and give you the lowest pricing available (salesman don't get to see the true cost GC pays for the item). Unless you have a favorite GC salesman you always deal with, bypass them and go straight to the store manager. Also, bear in mind that many of the sales employees at the large chains don't know much if anything about what they are selling to you. If you require help or extensive customer support after the sale, pay a bit more and buy from your local music store and you'll be better off. You'll spend more but in the end you'll get good service. Service is something seriously lacking at many stores these days, GC not excluded.

Small local stores compete successfully with Guitar center all the time. MAP prices in may cases allow for a 30% margin. It's no wonder Best Buy wants in!!! MI margins are MUCH higher than TVs and receivers. Internet pricing is still healthy for the local music store.
That said some local stores failed when the big box came to town. When you realize the local music stores (and early GC) made 50% margins plus on guitars at one time and 40% on keys and PAs. Mass merchandising brought that down to 30% give or take a couple points. The stores that were heavily leveraged and had debt service based on 50% margins fell by the wayside. Those who paid as they went and carried non traditional high margin music items such as Sheet music and Pianos along with a variety of MI product GC does not carry still operate in the black.

In my store everyone made and or still earn a living playing music. No one is under 40 years old and all make over $10 an hour plus. Some of us have pensions and other income and work because we want to not because we have to. That makes a huge difference when dealing with customers as well as the lack of a straight commission structure. Would people rather deal with that or some 20 something who knows nothing outside of drop D power chords, and cannot tell you what MIDI is or the history of a Fender Strat.

We don't sell work stations any more becasue we were demoing them all day and selling NONE. I suspect they were buying on the net to save 5%. We floor what we sell in the store. If someone needs to save the tax we either sell for less or let them but on the net. All of our computers have online access so we can check prices right there. Many times we will live with a 25% margin to match the Internet price on high dollar items.

Many people will buy at the brick and mortar because we will honor the warranty for them, and deal with the vendor should they have an issue. We will not service an internet bought product unless its a regular customer.

We are not worried about Best Buy. They will have the same model as GC. Low paid kids and high turnover.

Summer NAMM is going to be interesting with the Best Buy development.

(BTW Mitt Romney is not with Bain any more.)

I'm not surprised to hear this. We have a large GC in Fort Myers, and I kept looking forward to going to the store, kept believing that next time I was going to find what I wanted and get some better understanding.

Wrong, it was always a miserable experience, with weird sales people who did not know much and certainly did not help you. They never had any of the higher end arrangers. I never bought a thing, even though I'm as much of a gear junky as anyone.