My favorite music store is Replay Music in Tampa.  Like most people, I also go to the “big box music stores” – Sam Ash and Guitar Center.  I’m not going to zero in on either chain, but basically all big music retail stores have the issues outlined in this post.  Some big indie stores suffer from these same issues.

OK, brag moment:  I am a fan of Mac computers.  Before Steve Jobs came back to Apple somewhere around 1998, I would tell all of my friends what Apple needed to do to turn around.  Simplify the product line and make the Mac look cool again.  Dump retailers who don’t take care of their Apple section.  Open up your own stores.  Get busy building the next great computing device.  Jobs came back to Apple, and he did every single one of those things.  And executed the biggest turnaround in American corporate history.

So you should listen to me, Big Box executives!  You have problems, I have solutions.  Here’s a free top 10 list.  If you’d like more info, please feel free to reach out to me.  I’d be happy to explain further, for a mere $300 per hour.  Crazy cheap way to improve sales nationwide…

  1. More cables and picks, dammit.  Some stores are famous for allowing you to walk in, grab a guitar, and just play.  That’s fantastic, except you often can’t find a cable, or you can’t use the one “nailed” to the furniture because it won’t reach.  Sometimes there are picks everywhere, but sometimes you have to walk up to the counter and ask for one, which defeats the purpose of “just walk in and play.”  This is simple stuff to fix.
  2. Decent action on every guitar. I can set up decent action in 5 minutes.  In more time I can do a great job, but decent would be a massive improvement.  You are trying to sell a $1,000 guitar and the action is bad – 5 minutes is a great investment.
  3. I can also fix sharp fret ends in about 5 minutes with a StewMac fret end file.  It’s worth spending 10 minutes on even a $300 guitar to make it sell.
  4. Different color tags for used items you can’t actually buy yet.  Why not?
  5. Or just remove the “you can’t buy this” items until you can.
  6. Stock new freaking amps.  It’s awesome to see something like the Bassbreaker 30 in YouTube videos around December.  But when it’s almost October and the amp is still nowhere to be found in the store, there’s no excuse.  (Well, unless Fender refuses to ship them.  That’d be a good excuse.  And Fender is semi-inept, so maybe you get a pass.)
  7. More sales people on busy days.
  8. Simplify String Club (a program a certain big box store runs.)  Just make it the first of every month is “new strings day.”  Wouldn’t that be easier?
  9. Product demo presentations on weekends.
  10. More employee training.  Or heck, even some.  I’ve been told a bunch of whoppers from some of the big box store employees.

There you go.  Give me a shout if you want more.  I’m happy to help tell you common sense things that your own customers would also tell you, if you ever asked.