Best Buy Music Store

[GRW3]

I wandered into the local Best Buy last Sunday to check out some printers and found they now have a music store inside. Like most music stores they don't have any mandolins but it was pretty complete otherwise. It looks almost like they did a statistical study of what Guitar Center sells the most of and aimed at that. In a bold placement this location is walking distance from Sam Ash and across the highway from Guitar Center.

Now like I said, we don't have a particular dog in this hunt, unless we play something they do carry (and they had some quality Gibson guitars), so we can kind of observe. Besides the stock, the look and feel of the store tells me they are in fact aiming at Guitar Center. Most of us probably have non-box stores with which we trade for music and maybe for the other hobby pursuits too. Based on my generally positive experiences with Best Buy, regarding computers, CDs, DVDs, electronic components, appliances, etc., if I was a non musician looking for that first guitar for me or a child and I saw Best Buy offered it I would likely go there.

My dealer tends to avoid the kind of mass market merchandise that is the heart of Guitar Centers business so Best Buy is not likely to bother him. Guitar Center does dabble in his end of the market so Best Buy emergent could actually help him.

Anyway, it will be interesting to watch.

[Weagle]

George

Is Best Buy going to be handling guitars at all of their stores??? That is some interesting information.

Weagle

[Rick Lindstrom]

I experienced the same surprise when I walked into the BestBuy here in Tallahassee the other day.

It seemed an odd juxtaposition, but whatever :)

Rick

[jefflester]

85 stores according to this South Florida newpaper article. (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzbestbuy1003sboct03,0,2910276.story)

For some reason I am unable to access the official www.bestbuy.com website ("Access Denied") so I can't tell if they have any mention there.

[lovethemf5s]

Does this mean that Guitar Center and Sam Ash will now sell computers?

[Steve L]

Start taking pictures of your local music store...they won't be around much longer. I was in Wal Mart the other day and I saw a kid moving a palette of First Act guitars.

[Bruce Evans]

Does this mean that Guitar Center and Sam Ash will now sell computers?

GC has been selling computers for quite some time.

[Patrick Sylvest]

I bought my iMac from GC

[Big Joe]

Gibsons can be found soon at your local Best Buy. Just what the world needs....another box store selling a product it knows absolutely nothing about. Oh...I forgot. Best Buy already does that just with other products :) .

[Bill Snyder]

The only Gibson offerings on their online store are Maestro by Gibson and Gibson Baldwin products.
They also carry several of the Martin HPL guitars.

[Rob Powell]

The only Gibson offerings on their online store are Maestro by Gibson and Gibson Baldwin products.
They also carry several of the Martin HPL guitars.


They're listed as a Gibson OAI dealer though....or at least were a few weeks ago. In my local BB they actually hired musicians to work in that part of the store. On top of that, it appears that they gave them some training on the products they sell. I was quite surprised.

I asked about mandolins and they said they weren't sure if they would carry them or not.

[Jon Hall]

I wouldn't worry about First Act guitars taking over the market. A few of my students have bought them but they fell apart within a few weeks. However one student has a "Carly" guitar which she bought from Walmart and it is playable but only a notch above the First Act. The "Carly" happens to be hot pink!

[Chris Biorkman]

That is so odd.

[JEStanek]

Musicains Friend is having a scratch and dent sale on OAI products.... NFI for me.

Jamie

[Steve L]

I wouldn't worry about First Act guitars taking over the market. A few of my students have bought them but they fell apart within a few weeks. However one student has a "Carly" guitar which she bought from Walmart and it is playable but only a notch above the First Act. The "Carly" happens to be hot pink!

Jon, my concern is that there's no such thing as "the" market anymore...there are a number of them. And a lot of small independant stores stores are supported by the first time/entry level buyer. The fact that the guitars are bad is not on the radar screen of this customer...to them it's like buying an iron or a folding chair. The kid wants a guitar, here they are in the toy department and they're cheaper than the stuff in the music store across the street (Where I work.). The guitars don't scare me, the business model does. How many small TV shops, shoe, and hardware stores are there in your neighborhood these days? I'm old enough to remember people who could make a living and buy homes from businesses like that. They're essentially gone.

You can't turn the tide back, but I don't have to like it. The double hit of big box stores with musical instrument departments and the internet will really hurt small stores.

The only "fun" part is watching a customers face when you tell them that their $60 guitar won't ever play quite right without a fret level that runs about $150-200.

[Capt. E]

I know from a local Austin music dealer (who is really pissed at Gibson) that to be a Gibson dealer you are required to make a first order of $30,000 in merchandise and Gibson products need to be half the stock for sale. I'm sure Best Buy with its great buying power made their own deal.

[Pheasant Plucker]

Start taking pictures of your local music store...they won't be around much longer. I was in Wal Mart the other day and I saw a kid moving a palette of First Act guitars.

It's too late in my town. Walmart made a point of visiting the local music store and told them about their plans to start renting band instruments. That was the main income of the local. The FirstAct #### showed up a few weeks later. About six months later our local music store was gone... Walmart never started renting band instruments :mad:

[ApK]

Walmart has carried First Act instruments for years and it hasn't bothered music stores in my area one whit. The recorders and ocarinas and harmonicas are pretty darn good. The rest are toys and at least are cheaper and easier to return than a mail-order Esteban.
As for a few of my local mom and pop stores, they offer nothing of value and some pretty bad service, and I was thrilled that more Sam Ashes and GC came to my area to give me an alternative...no idea how those certain small shops survive around here.
Though there are certainly some self-destructive practices in the mix that can be addressed, for the most part, big stores got big by doing what they do better than their competition. You only get big if lots of people want to shop with you.
I can't stop knee-jerk big-is-bad prejudice, but I don't have to like it.

ApK

[GRW3]

The Best Buy store here wasn't fully stocked in the acoustic room when I went there but it had some interesting choices. For entry level it had Epiphone, Washburn, Yamaha and Martin HPL. The top of the line were the Gibsons and they had a J-45 (very nice if you deal with that Gibson neck), an SJ-200 (think Emmylou), a couple of Songwriter Artists and one of those Canadian Gibsons (from the old Garrison factory). Like I said they weren't fully stocked but they had a bunch of hang tags where you could see their projected inventory.

For instance, they only had two Martin HPLs on display but had hang tags for what looked like a dozen more. This was in the acoustic room. They had stacks of beginner packages by the front door. The heart of this deal is Gibson stuff no doubt. I think we tend to think about Gibson in mandolins and guitars but they own a major player in every impact segment.

The decor of the store lends more of GC appearance. The employees wear black or yellow T-shirts instead of the BB blue. The ones I met were more cheerful than the typical "I should be fronting Metallica" angst driven GC employee.

The real driver in this might well be the reported new version of Guitar Hero that is supposed to be out for Christmas. The one using a real guitar. As I read it you could get a Washburn ready to go or an adapter kit for your choice of electric guitar. Best Buy probably sells more Guitar Hero than anyone so why set up business for GC when you use it to kick start a new market?

[allenhopkins]

I think the predictions of the local music stores' demise are a bit overly pessimistic. In Rochester, there are several individually owned operations that offer things that Best Buy and Wal-Mart will never have: repairs, adjustments, music lessons, a broad selection of used and "vintage" instruments, trade-ins, instruction books and DVD's, and, perhaps as important as some of the others, advice and counsel. If your "mom and pop" store is mostly selling student guitars to first-time players, I guess they should be more worried. But if an individually owned music store has developed a good reputation, and a clientele of knowledgeable customers who come back again and again to have instruments fixed, adjusted, and upgraded, they can stay profitable.

There's always been a market for high-volume, low-margin sales of entry-level instruments. It used to be through the Sears Roebuck and Monkey Ward catalogs; now it's Musicians Friend and similar on-line retailers. Apparently Wal-Mart and Best Buy want a slice of that pie. However, it ain't the only pie on the shelf.

[Keith Erickson]

Start taking pictures of your local music store...they won't be around much longer. I was in Wal Mart the other day and I saw a kid moving a palette of First Act guitars.

I highly doubt it.......

The target market for the Mega-Center is different than the Mom & Pop store.

We've been hearing about this type of demagoguery about the pac-rim products for how long? ....but some how Gilchrist is able to command the high dollar's $$$$ for his mandolins.

Trust me............the sky isn't falling :whistling:

[Rob Powell]

I agree that the small music store isn't really endangered by Best Buy. I will say though that they were doing set-ups when I was there.

The atmosphere is still Best Buy and my local store has a much better selection of good stuff and they pretty much don't carry the nasty stuff.

[John H.]

I've heard that the company that owns GC recently bought Best Buy....:confused:

....anybody else hear likewise??

[Mattg]

Here is how the small store survives, by building relationships with customers or even potential customers. My favorite small music store sells medium to high end instruments, has a great repair shop and lutherie school, sells great materials, has a who's who list of instructors, has a jam or two, hosts performances. Best of all, I can hang out on a Saturday and just chat about music. The other day, I got a free dobro lesson from a patron just hanging out. The staff know me and my kid by name. It's all about relationships and building community. None of this can be found at the Walmart or Guitar Center (generally speaking).

[DryBones]

When my son first started showing an interest in playing bass guitar we bought him a First Act bass from Wal-Mart just to make sure he would really want to play without spending a ton of dough. About a year later we got him a nice Ibanez from a local dealer.

[Perry Babasin]

Does this mean that Guitar Center and Sam Ash will now sell computers?
Funny you should mention it but Guitar center (at least in California) is an authorized A**le dealer because of midi and recording capabilities, machines, software and midi peripherals and interfaces.

Perry:grin:

[Perry Babasin]

Ooops! I didn't see this was already responded to.

P

[Keith Erickson]

None of this can be found at the Walmart or Guitar Center (generally speaking).

Not true about Walmart. If you walk into my local Walmart in El Paso, Texas, my customer service experience is great every time I walk in there.

...as for Guitar Center :confused: that's another story....... I didn't learn my lession the 1st time so I decided to walk into GC lóóking (yet again)for a set of J-74's. I had to wait and wait and wait for assistance while they fawned all of the dope smokin' FM type that walked in right after. Let's put it this way; if I lóóked like I was a chore to deal with over mandolin strings, I'm not there target market.

[MikeEdgerton]

I've heard that the company that owns GC recently bought Best Buy....:confused:

....anybody else hear likewise??

There is nothing in any of the industry news sources that I can find that verify that. Guitar Center did buy Music 123 a few years ago and still operates it along with Musicians Friend.

[Bill Snyder]

As far as I can tell Bet Buy is listed on the NYSE as BBY. FWIW, it closed at $22.51 today

[lovethemf5s]

Funny you should mention it but Guitar center (at least in California) is an authorized A**le dealer because of midi and recording capabilities, machines, software and midi peripherals and interfaces.

Perry:grin:

Sorry, my error. I think you are the third person to correct my post. If I'm wrong please correct me. It appears that I live about 100 miles from the nearest GC and I don't get on the road that much and even if I did I wouldn't go to a GC. I'll try to be more accurate for you next time.
:crying:

[allenhopkins]

Not true about Walmart. If you walk into my local Walmart in El Paso, Texas, my customer service experience is great every time I walk in there.

I think what mattg was talking about was "relationships and building community" being something that a smaller store can offer, and a large store would have a harder time doing. I'm sure Wal-Mart can offer good customer service if you need to exchange something, deal with defective merchandise, perhaps even order something currently out of stock.

My favorite music store (http://www.stutzmansguitarcenter.com/) here in Rochester has a card file (now computerized) of all the instruments I've bought there over the past 30 years. I can go into the repair shop and sit next to Dick when he's replacing a tuning peg or tweaking a truss rod (for which I'm not charged -- lifetime adjustments for instruments purchased there). Dave knows when I'm looking for a particular instrument ("Hey, I got one of those Eastman mandocellos in -- wanta take a look at it?"). They'll order me a box of cheap harmonicas when I'm teaching a class. Dave will offer to loan me one of those new high-tech Bose PA's for a gig, "to see what you think of it." I can trade in my Weymann Keystone State mando-lute on an Eastman 615 mandola, and get pretty much what I paid for the Weymann back in 1982. And I can find a 1937 National Havana guitar, a 1940 Martin 00-28G converted to a 00-42, a Gibson 3-point black-face F-2, or Martin Simpson's Sobell (all of which I've purchased there).

This is the kind of personal, individual service that no Wal-Mart or Best Buy is likely to be able to give. And that's not to criticize them; they have a different business plan, much more volume, diversity, overhead, staffing, advertising, etc. etc. They're great at what they do. But they can't provide what a good specialized music store can.

So I think, as long as there's a potential clientele of committed professional and amateur musicians, there's going to be a place for individually-owned, well-managed, high-class music stores, despite what the large chain retailers do. We've had chains such as Daddy's Junky Music come and go from this area, but the locally-owned stores appear relatively healthy.

[SoreFinger]

I haven't checked our local Best Buy, but GC is just west of them in the same complex. The local music shop I normally patronize loved it when GC moved in town. They said they would get all the setup work and repairs from the instruments GC sells. It hasn't seemed to effect their business much if anything they say it has been better than normal.:grin: