Unbelievable...

[GreyDad]

So I went into a certain large music store in Bristol today, one which I have frequented quite a bit over the years and at which I've spent a fair amount of money. I first picked up and played a Stingray 4 here in 2000 which sparked my EBMM love affair. My Ashdown bass rig, my Stingray 5HH, pedals, monitors etc etc were all bought here, so we have history together.

About 2 or 3 months ago they had about 5 EBMM's on the wall. I was looking to try out a Bongo at the time but they didn't have one, so I said do you have one in any of your other stores? (they're a chain, about 6 stores in total). Well, they had only one, in black (of course) and it was a 5HH which I didn't want to try at the time. I expressed my disappointment and asked why they didn't have more of these fine instruments, to which I didn't receive a good answer so I looked elsewhere.

Back to lunchtime today: walk in, say "hello" to young assistant and "I'd like to try a Musicman please what have you got?".

"Oh we don't have them anymore", says he, "we used to have a few but they didn't sell so we sent them all back"

"WTF??!!!", says I, "I can't believe you just said that"

"It's the economics", says he, "we stock F*nd*rs and such but Musicman are too expensive"

"You get what you pay for", says I

I looked at what they had and they were nearly all in the £200-500 range, low end F*nd*rs, Danelectro and Gibson copies.

I despair.

Can't wait for my Bongo 4H to arrive tomorrow.

 

[oli@bass]

"The economics" is currently widely abused to cover up lazy decisions...

 

[five7]

Lame!

 

[Duarte]

It's weird, my local music shop always has one EBMM at a time (usually an SR5, the owner is obsessed with them) and they are gone within a matter of days. Every time. I don't believe they sent them back...if you got them in stock, KEEP THEM! Where did they send them back to, I wonder?

 

[the unrepentant]

In some places they just don't sell well, though it's down to bad salesmanship mostly. There have been two stingrays at a local music shop for a few months now... It's a shame, because they're not very well showcased either. You'd think they would put their most expensive stuff where people could see it, wouldn't you? And i've NEVER seen a sterling for sale in the UK in a shop, and only ever two bongos. It's ridiculous.

 

[Aussie Mark]

I looked at what they had and they were nearly all in the £200-500 range, low end F*nd*rs, Danelectro and Gibson copies.

I despair.

Businesses rely on turnover. If they have nice stuff on the walls that doesn't sell, that doesn't pay the rent, electricity bill, insurance, or their employees. Also, that stuff only gets to hang on the wall if the business buys it first, so that means either a loan, overdraft or capital investment from previous profit.

You can't second guess their business model at face value.

 

[GreyDad]

I know, I understand what they are doing and where they are going. I've watched the whole organisation change and it's clearly heading for a different place. It's just a shame - I could walk to it from my office at lunch and check stuff out and I think that's about only the second time in my nearly-30-year career I can say that but personally the place is losing it's interest.

Their website shows 1 Stingray ex-demo clearance and then all gone - but I noted they still have a stack of >£1k F*nd*rs

 

[kompressaur]

are you talking about reverb? They stopped stocking Bongos when they were still Sound Control. I havent been in to the Glasgow city centre store for a while now but they had half a dozen Stingrays and Sterlings last time I was in. Will pop in and have a look later this week.

 

[GreyDad]

Yes I am - I liked Sound Control and regret it's demise, was hoping it would pick up again once it became reverb took over. I think you may be lucky to find any Balls in there but would be interested to know.