You're Fired - Guitar Stores are Firing Customers

Comments · 459

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  @viewoftheaskew · 1 year ago

  I worked at Sam Ash in NY years ago. 5 min before closing a guy comes who looks like he couldn't afford a sandwich. There was something about him that seemed serious to me, so I stayed 45 minutes after closing to show him lighting systems. A month later he comes back with $30,000 cash, he was starting a club down in the bronx. There was like 5 people in the office counting all the cash lol. It's good to trust your spidey senses sometimes, not everyone is a wanker.

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• TI

  @timjim10 · 1 year ago

  A good local store was more than a store.  It was a place to exchange information, meet other musicians and learn things that you didn’t even consider.

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• ST

  @stlflyguy · 1 year ago

  Re: “people just want to sell.”  No, people just want to “clerk.”  As others have posted, the browsing is important.  I travel for a living, and often seek out small, independent guitar/pawn shops.  “Looking for anything in particular?”  In reply I state, “no, but when I see it I’ll know it.”  You don’t get that by shopping online.  And you lose that desire to browse because making an appointment feels very obligatory.  I’ll lean towards the shops that are very “old world” in their business practices.

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• AL

  @Allicks-Guitar-Shop · 1 year ago

  I have a nice small old school shop which I want to feel like a hub that musicians can use, or congegrate. I carry a little “beginner” guitars, but I won’t buy or sell something I think is junk, or toyish. I will let the big box stores have the market that wants something that is garbage. I think my integrity is worth more than selling that, which I think will eventually lead to more sales.

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• DA

  @danielmyers622 · 1 year ago

  I would love to have sat in your shop and listened to you for 11 minutes on why you have no time for me. At least I could have looked at the guitars hanging on the wall. When a business is just a paycheck there is no real reward.

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• PI

  @PierceThirlen2 · 1 year ago

  I'm old school, 70 years old.  I can't stand Guitar Center.  I also can't imagine making an appointment to go to a guitar shop, unless it was perhaps a luthier that was going to build a guitar for me.  It used to be part of the routine to check out the guitar shops and pawn shops regularly for interesting new and used guitars and amps.

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• DA

  @davidwood351 · 1 year ago

  Times change, things morph continuously. I’m saddened by the closing of family owned hardware stores, those people could really help you figure out solutions and put the right tools and hardware in your hands. These big box store employees don’t even know their own inventory and where it’s located.

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• MI

  @mikal · 1 year ago

  If a store is willing to burn bridges with customers because they're not spending a lot with every visit, that means they're not worth coming back to when the tables turn and they're in need of sales in the future. I used to work in an independent instrument store. Our store was a place for people to browse and hang out as much as it was a vending space. We never lost a penny due to "small transaction" customers or musicians hanging out.

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• BA

  @Bassman-r3c · 1 year ago

  When I was young - long before the Internet - there were lots of music shops, and you could divide them into 2 categories; the &quot;high class&quot; stores where the sales people wore suits and where browsing wasn&apos;t encouraged, and the &quot;informal&quot; shops, where the staff wore jeans and t-shirts and would talk music to you all day. <br>Guess which kind of store vanished &nbsp;?

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• DA

  @danf2337 · 1 year ago

  My guess is that the store that aren&apos;t open to the browsing public or the small dollar purchases will also eventually wonder why everyone is buying big stuff from Guitar Center or the like, too. &nbsp;People will buy from people they &quot;know&quot; and like if they&apos;re willing to buy in person. &nbsp;The small sales and browsing and &quot;wasting employee time&quot; is how they get to know the store and the people in it.

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• TO

  @TooLooze · 1 year ago

  Even worse than local availability of guitars, is the loss of local luthiers that customers can know and trust.

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• RO

  @robroymenzies8641 · 1 year ago

  I own a custom matting and framing store, and I also sell guitars. 90% of my bread and butter comes from matting and framing, I would not be in business if I just sold guitars! I also understand the frustration of being held hostage by a customer for an hour while they tell you everything about their life and then leave without buying a thing. But it is part of being in business, especially in a small town. Oh my...I would love to fire a couple of customers! LOL! I enjoy your videos Gary!

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