The future of guitar shops in the 2020's

[skullfxr]

What do you think is going to happen?

GC is well over $1B in debt. I don't think they will make it.

In the last five years four out of five of the mom and pop stores went out of business in the area.

Obviously we all remember from the early 2000's, that Best Buy lost a lot of money trying to sell gear.

Every day Amazon gets more and more powerful.

Ebay is a complete bitch to deal with. Reverb I will no longer sell.

My local Sam Ash is great, if GC goes under, they have a good chance of growing.

The only developing form of music stores here are what I call "Lesson Farms" that solely are making money from lessons and small items, but they can't get anything decent in, and they rip off the kids parents selling a pack of strings for $10.

Let-Go, offerup and CL will still be around, but it's not exactly demoing. But at least there is some local stuff.

So in 2029, where the hell can I go to demo gear?

 

[panhead]

Mom and pop stores been going out since the beginning of guitar center

 

[Thunkful]

.

 

[blackba]

It may be time for a new business model. You want to try something, you pay a small fee and it gets sent to the shop for you to go and try. If you buy that money is applied toward your purchase, if not then you lose it. Carrying a ton of inventory is just not sustainable these days.

As for some shops, the local shops here are not doing that great, hanging in there I would say.

 

[japetus]

Closed For Business

 

[marvcus]

If and when GC goes down, it will take a lot of manufacturers with it. Many large manufacturers will close entirely or will largely scale back operations.

Many, many manufacturers need to get real on their pricing -- they are shooting themselves in the foot with astronomical MSRPs, btw...

I could see a lot of them banding together for Guitar Shows at hotels, etc. in order to show off new gear (Like how folks do when NAMM comes around) I can also see direct-to-consumer gear tryout/demos.

 

[Rock Bodom]

I personally find it more exciting these days relying on online purchases. Back in the day you'd drop $60-70 on a pedal and actually try it out before you left the store. Pretty boring. I like the thrill of dropping $300+ on an impulse boutique pedal purchase based on watching 15 seconds of a YouTube review and 5 guys on a forum saying they love it. That moment it arrives, and I try to dial it in...it's like a slot machine, I know I'm probably going to be disappointed, but oh the anticipation of hitting a winner.

 

[romanianreaper]

I personally find it more exciting these days relying on online purchases. Back in the day you'd drop $60-70 on a pedal and actually try it out before you left the store. Pretty boring. I like the thrill of dropping $300+ on an impulse boutique pedal purchase based on watching 15 seconds of a YouTube review and 5 guys on a forum saying they love it. That moment it arrives, and I try to dial it in...it's like a slot machine, I know I'm probably going to be disappointed, but oh the anticipation of hitting a winner.

 

[romanianreaper]

I think everything is going to hit bottom and then their will be this slight resurgence. It will be like when vinyl came back. You'll see a few pedals at a bookstore, etc. and then a few small stores will open up and true musicians will go there to get their gear. Maybe order things directly from them with some inventory.

 

[jabps]

I like the thrill of dropping $300+ on an impulse boutique pedal purchase based on watching 15 seconds of a YouTube review and 5 guys on a forum saying they love it. That moment it arrives, and I try to dial it in...it's like a slot machine, I know I'm probably going to be disappointed, but oh the anticipation of hitting a winner.

Astonishingly true. I'm contemplating doing this very thing at the moment lol.

 

[skullfxr]

I like the thrill of dropping $300+ on an impulse boutique pedal purchase based on watching 15 seconds of a YouTube review and 5 guys on a forum saying they love it. That moment it arrives, and I try to dial it in...it's like a slot machine, I know I'm probably going to be disappointed, but oh the anticipation of hitting a winner.

Astonishingly true. I'm contemplating doing this very thing at the moment lol.

Yeah a different kind of rush.

 

[skullfxr]

I think everything is going to hit bottom and then their will be this slight resurgence. It will be like when vinyl came back. You'll see a few pedals at a bookstore, etc. and then a few small stores will open up and true musicians will go there to get their gear. Maybe order things directly from them with some inventory.

That is pure optimism, which for our sakes I hope is true.

I like the underground kind of thing myself.

 

[romanianreaper]

I like the underground kind of thing myself.

Me too man. When I think back to guitar purchases that were truly memorable, it was those moments.

When I first went into the military and was 19 years old, I went to this Mom and Pop store in West Texas and it literally was the owner, his dog, and me in the store. I remember playing a Fender "Big Apple" Strat and just sitting there relaxed, taking in the vibes. To this day, I can still remember a bit of what the store looked like and can still "feel" that moment and that day.

I've been to Guitar Center a billion times and can barely remember when, what, where with guitar purchases. People can't tell me that there is not something magical with going to a small guitar store, thumbing thru vinyl in a record shop, or looking for old memorabilia at a Flea Market, etc. It is all about the experience. People forget that part of it. You can sit all day long clicking "Add to Order" online and get your guitar. There is something about going into a store and talking with the owner, chatting with other guitarists around you, etc.

 

[MYLILSS]

I personally find it more exciting these days relying on online purchases. Back in the day you'd drop $60-70 on a pedal and actually try it out before you left the store. Pretty boring. I like the thrill of dropping $300+ on an impulse boutique pedal purchase based on watching 15 seconds of a YouTube review and 5 guys on a forum saying they love it. That moment it arrives, and I try to dial it in...it's like a slot machine, I know I'm probably going to be disappointed, but oh the anticipation of hitting a winner.

this is the quote of the day and accurate as fuck !

 

[sleewell2]

 

[Thunkful]

I used to do this shit so much, but just to garnish some specs for my musikraft neck.

 

[SFW]

As was stated earlier, retail prices have gotten stupid. The only reason I go to Guitar Center anymore is to buy strings. For the last 10 years, GC has been sliding into the dump. The Houston stores only carry cheap shit or Gibson / Fender Custom shop stuff. In the early 2000s, I worked for Guitar Center. We thrived on the $500 to $1500 guitar market. The solid working musician guitars. Sold a shit ton of Mesa Boogie amps, and the used gear market was tits. Now I dread having to go into the store. Two of the local shops around me have closed in the past five years, and the third have moved to lessons and a few cheap strat packs and acoustic. They also downsized their retail area to a 10 x 15 room. The last guitar I purchased new came from Sweetwater. (By the way, the Washburn N24 is a killer guitar)

 

[herewegoagain]

I personally love buying guitars (and pedals) online..There is really no risk involved seeing as how any vendor who wants to compete for business in the market place must have a reasonable return policy... I have never returned any piece of gear ordered online, but like the option of doing so if necessary.

Contrary to the testimony of many, I have never found the 'magical guitar' off the rack at GC or any other place...I generally leave the stores with nothing simply because it's too much hassle to get technical details from sales personnel ...

If I order a guitar online, it will have the exact specs I want, no guesswork... and it will show up on my doorstep for less money than I would spend driving to the store and buying it... after it arrives, it will seldom be perfect, but seeing as how I actually own it at this point, I'll do whatever it takes to set it up to my personal perfection..that challenge itself is half the fun.

The future of Brick and Mortar shops is not good.

 

[UltraGary]

This is why I always hate to see the trend of bad-mouthing GC and wishing the worst for them. As a guy who ran record stores my whole life (remember those?!)... I've seen what happens when stores selling cool product close down and it isn't pretty. Not only can you be sure something wayyyy less cool will move into that space, but those closures have a terrible effect on the business as a whole. Sure, it seems "rock & roll" (or is it 'punk rock'?) to want to see the big company fall and make room for some sort of new-style revolution, but let's be real...if there is a resurgence of guitar-buying, it sure isn't happening anytime soon.
Yea, it's cool to talk about how much smarter we are then many of their staff members and all that....but seeing a Rite-Aid or Linens&Things move into your local GC wouldn't be a great day.

 

[sytharnia1560]

I live in New Zealand and I think our retail music shops are doing "ok". Our main retailer The Rockshop has in recent years been opening new stores around the country and they seem committed to staying long term. I'm pretty sure they don't make a lot of money (if any at all) but the owners have said they are here to stay. They have been around since 1986 with the same owners so I think they'll stay around for a while yet.

Sadly I don't have any need now to spend money on gear so I rarely even go into a store now days, but I usually go to them if I need to buy something (got may Katana from them and bought a 2 ukulele for my kids from them in the last 2 years)