One of the big problems of brick & mortar stores is competing with internet sites that don't charge you sales tax, if you are not in their states.
Internet stores will sell with small profit margin if you push them. The local store must match a low price AND charge us sales tax.
Our local dealer quit carrying them. He told me it was because people would come in, take an hour of the salesman's time, then go home and order it on the the internet, because he couldn't compete with the price.
He would rather have the staff sell pa systems or guitars, where profit margins are a little better, and turnover is much better.
DonM

Boo, from what I was told, the kids buy lots of guitars, amps, stomp boxes, lights, some drums, and a few mics - not arranger keyboards. And, when someone my age walks into a GC, we are pretty much ignored by the sales staff. You almost have to smack one of those kids in the head to get their attention. Then when you finally get their attention, they don't have a clue what you are talking about. I'm amazed that GC has managed to stay in business all these years. They must sell a Hell of a lot of guitars to the kids because the synths and arrangers never seem to move.

Cheers,

Gary

Actually GC is in serious financial trouble from what I hear.
Saw it on the internet so it must be true.
DonM

Did you try calling Alto Music in Middletown, NY? They just might have it. They have more keyboards on the floor than any other store I've seen. Wouldn't hurt to give em a call.

Friend of mine had a small shop here in NJ. He was a keyboard player so he was into the latest things, but as he told me it seemed as soon as he got the latest greatest keyboard something else would come out and he was stuck with the older model. It actually happened to me. Bought an Ensoniq piano from him and it was almost exactly what I wanted so I settled for it. Don't you know a month later they came out with exactly what I had asked for ! He was a good guy and begged the Ensoniq rep to exchange it for me and they did. Liked it so much I bought a second one. He got lucky and sold the first one quick.
Too much money tied up in stock will kill any business.
I agree that if GC or Sam Ash had any knowlegable sales rep to demo arrangers they would sell much better.

Mark

I think you'll love the BK9. Buy one from a dealer who will give you a 30 day return option and try it out. It does take a lot of time to get it to where you personally like it but from the get go the drums and bass on the arrangements will impress you. You can hit the track mute button with any style and just play piano with the drum/bass backrounds and sound great.
What have you got to lose except some time, give it a try.

The local GC near me has had less Roland keyboards than I've seen in years past. The only arranger keyboards are a PSR series and a MM8. Everything else is either digital pianos or workstations. I asked about the Roland VR9, which I figured they would get, and the Keyboard Manager said it was one they wouldn't be stocking it locally. The market didn't support the possible sell of it. I had thought that the VR9 would have been a solid keyboard for people that were looking for one that was performance oriented.

As for arranger keyboards, very few of the local stores around me have ever carried anything except the entry level ones. There's an independent store that still has a GW8, but the dust on it makes it appears that it's been sitting there for awhile.

As for the Roland BK series the local GC said that if I was interested, then I would have to buy it and have it shipped in.

Joe

If I ever had a second chance, I'd pick up a guitar and maybe a shot at fame in reality talent shows.. Really haven't seen an arranger player showcasing in these shows and maybe it's just a butterfly effect from media networks shaping our interests today....

Here in Germany, I think in the arranger section a lot of stores have focused on Yamaha and Korg in the past years and have increasingly ignored Roland since Roland gave up their TOTL arrangers after the E80. Now it seems to be very hard to get back into the arranger business for Roland, although I think the lightweight concept of the BK-9 is very interesting. I am waiting for the announced BK sound expansions though.

Good suggestion, Tim. I did call them. They have 2....1 in each store. They're boxed, but he said he's willing to open one and put it on display if I was genuinely interested.

I'd rather buy from Frankie V, but if he hasn't chimed in on this thread, then he's probably not selling them.

Frank, ultimately, is the best man to go to 'cause he knows everything about arrangers. How could he not?....he plays them on gigs!