What you'd like to see in music stores

Dublin Guitar

Hi all users. I run a music store and was just wondering what you look for when you're visiting your local music store, and what would make your shopping experience better?

PM or respond here. Mods, hope the q is ok

RICARDO1982

I hate when you go into the guitar shops to try out guitars and they have been just taken out of the box and hung on the wall, not set up and play like ****!! If the instruments have been set up and play nice you are much more likely to buy it:)

Owen

From shopping in NYC, I'd like to see :

A selection of professional equipment at competitive prices. Generally, I don't need an educated salesperson, I've done my research online before I go to a shop (If I go to a shop). I just want to be able to play something that isn't a budget electric or acoustic, or something that's guaranteed to sell so that's the reason the shop stocks it.

Also, sell things seasoned/professional musicians will impulse buy- DiMarzio clip lock straps, Dunlop Flush Mounted Strap Locks, guitar stands that fold into gig bags, even some apparel from manufacturers (I'd love an Ibanez Hoodie, that sort of thing).

A decent policy on soundchecking gear.

Employ a decent guitar tech, who is fully trained in setting up instruments. I'm lucky enough to be able to setup my own, but others can't, and a good drop off and collect service would be a good profit earner for any shop - no consumables used, only labour = €€€. If he's handy with electronics, all the better.

Run demo days, show people the latest amps, effects, show how easy it is to setup modern multi-fx units, invite in serious guitarists to show off equipment - Ireland's got some incredible players who'd be happy to help out I'm sure.

Do open days where bands gig at your shop - that works very well in the States too, gets a crowd in, and gets everyone in the mood to impulse buy/think about changing up.

Be friendly. Knowing everything about every piece of kit isn't a neccessity, but being able to pick up a guitar without someone tut-tutting is becoming rarer and rarer here. In the States, I picked up a 15k Acoustic in NJ, and no one batted an eyelid. Friendliness is the most important aspect of selling, people buy from people and a customer will decide in the first 15 seconds if the salesperson is someone they want to buy from - product knowledge quickly becomes secondary after that (I'm not kidding, I've done dozens of sales courses and this is drummed in, it doesn't mean product knowledge isn't important, but it is secondary to a damn good attitude and developing rapport with any prospective customer).

darrenw5094

Every guitar on display, should have a proper setup or at least decent action setting. What is the point of display guitars if you can't play them.

Squidgy Black

More pedal based gear, like a few boards like pedaltrains, powerbanks like dc bricks or voodoo labs,

I'd like to see some more budget pedals too, waltons do cheap ones, but they're absolute pieces of s**t, and some of the behringer or danelectro stuff would be nice to try out.

Do you guys do a 30 day money back guarantee on pedals and stuff? A lot of places in america do it, so it means you can actually try out the gear at home or at practice with your full rig

stephenshields2

As stated already, every guitar on display should be set up to a comfortable, playable standard.

Have a good selection, of both brands, and types of guitar. A few Metal guitars? A few jazzy guitars? A few nice Les Pauls? A few stratty guitars?

You get the picture anyway, nobody wants to walk into a guitar shop and see many, many cheapo guitars, make sure you have a selection for the more seasoned player!

Rigsby

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Be friendly. Knowing everything about every piece of kit isn't a neccessity, but being able to pick up a guitar without someone tut-tutting is becoming rarer and rarer here. In the States, I picked up a 15k Acoustic in NJ, and no one batted an eyelid. Friendliness is the most important aspect of selling, people buy from people and a customer will decide in the first 15 seconds if the salesperson is someone they want to buy from - product knowledge quickly becomes secondary after that (I'm not kidding, I've done dozens of sales courses and this is drummed in, it doesn't mean product knowledge isn't important, but it is secondary to a damn good attitude and developing rapport with any prospective customer).

Good post PaintDoctor, but for me, this paragraph is by far the most important from a customer point of view. After that, what I would like to see is a little more choice. I can only speak for bass, but every shop in Dublin stocks Fender. Granted they are a big seller, but a little more choice would be nice. Some higher end brands, for example, Lakland, G&L (in fairness I think "Dublin Guitar's" shop has some of these ) Spector etc. Also, I find the choice of bass strings here to be very bad. For example, I have yet to see a set of flatwounds in a Dublin shop.

Gaspode

A reasonable selection of left-handed instruments would make me happy!

fguihen

I have 3 asks of music stores in ireland:


1.Guitars set up properly. im never gona buy a guitar that plays like sh1t, i dont care how good reviews are. if i pick it up and it plays like crap, then as far as im concerned, its a crap guitar.

2. Choice. I find more and more music shops have maby 5-10 fenders, the same or less gibsons, a few epiphones and a bunch of 100 euro guitars.
Im all for affordable guitars, and getting people into music but 6 different types of les paul copies for 100 bucks just doesnt appeal to anyone who has been playing for any length of time.

3. Testing booths. Having a few amps spread out around the shop floor is not a way to test amps or guitars. You cant crank the amp up to test it without getting repremanded. the only reason not to buy online is you cant test gear before buying but as im not really getting to test the guitars/amps in the irish shops anyway why bother buying here?

fix those above points and il be much more likely to keep my money in the irish music shops and irish economy instead of sending it to the UK or Germany.

eagle10

I'm in gawlay things you cant get here.

Matched valves.
Guitar spares eg proper machine heads saddles.
Proper selection of pedals
Proper selection of anything infact all here is good for is getting strings the odd lead and maybe something good seconhand.

It really bugs me that you cant get matched valves here.

You cant really get anything here come to think of it just normal run of the mill stuff like your bog standard fender.

Everything must be ordered online

Dublin Guitar

Great suggestions guys, keep em coming. I'll post replies to individual ideas shortly. The feedback on forums like this is invaluable to stores like ours, and is greatly appreciated.

Any particular brands you'd like to see available? Also, how often to you visit bricks & mortar stores?

gerarda

Hi all, not sure what people will think of this but it might be a good idea if your waiting on an instrument to be setup or maybe just chill out and talk to fellow musicians?

rcaz

stetyrrell wrote: »

More pedal based gear, like a few boards like pedaltrains, powerbanks like dc bricks or voodoo labs,

I'd like to see some more budget pedals too, waltons do cheap ones, but they're absolute pieces of s**t, and some of the behringer or danelectro stuff would be nice to try out.

Do you guys do a 30 day money back guarantee on pedals and stuff? A lot of places in america do it, so it means you can actually try out the gear at home or at practice with your full rig

This post!

It's not as bad any more, but not so long ago it was like you were out of place in the guitar section of a music shop if you weren't into metal or blooze. There's a lot more to guitar music than what gets represented in our shops I think.

There seems to be lots of gear for people starting out looking for a cheap way to learn to play, or professionals from other areas who have a lot of money to spend on a nice guitar that will see little use, but people who don't have a lot of money and need more serious/particular gear (particular power supplies, daisy chains, specific replacement parts etc.) have to shop online. Ever try getting an AVRI Jazzmaster vibrato unit in a shop in Ireland? I had to buy online. I hate to generalise, but it seems like the recreational musician is better catered for than the one trying to be a working musician.

Particular things I'd like;
Guitars I haven't seen before, shops being more adventurous with the brands they stock)
(relatively) Cheap vintage guitars (Teiscos, Grecos, 90s Squiers etc.), things that are old, weirdly charming, unknown, interesting. Not all vintage guitars have to cost a bomb.
Bulk cable and jacks to build your own cables with. I haven't been able to find anywhere in Ireland stocking good quality cable like Mogami or Canare or anything. I bet more serious guys would definitely look into building custom cables if they were more readily available.
More computer gear. Decent selection of interfaces at decent prices, same for MIDI controllers and keyboards. I know it seems like I'm for a perfect world here but any time I've looked through Music Maker, Tower Records, or that shop on Liffey Street whose name I've forgotten, the music technology stuff has been limited, and very expensive.

seachto7

Baritone electrics!!!

Plus, brands that aren't Gibson or Fender but are good and look cool, like Reverend, Eastwood etc.

Demeyes

It's been mentioned already but I'd love to see some half decent mid-range guitars stocked. I nearly always go into a shop and come out without seeing a single guitar I'm interested in trying out. Most shops have a wide range of the usual budget copies as well as some bottom tier ibanez/jackson/ltds. Then they might have some Fenders and a few Gibsons. There are so many people buying decent guitars but most people I know are buying online because the shops don't stock much between 500 to 1200.
A few brands that might be worth looking at are G+L, the PRS SEs, Sterling by MM, Godin, the new Rasmus range by Suhr as well as some of the better import Jacksons, Schecter and Ibanez. I know the beginner stuff sells but there are plenty of gigging musicians that have moved up.

Rigsby

Dublin Guitar wrote: »

Great suggestions guys, keep em coming. I'll post replies to individual ideas shortly. The feedback on forums like this is invaluable to stores like ours, and is greatly appreciated.

It shows some interest when a store looks for feedback/opinions. A "certain" store has got a few threads worth of feedback ( it did not look for) here over recent times, 80% negative. Whether this feedback has been appriciated or not, I dont know, but AFAIK, very little has been done to act. Granted, a store can not be expected to act on every opinion and recommendation.

So thanks for showing an interest and looking for feedback.

Dord

More used gear would be nice, even if its just a handful of guitars in a corner. Weird and wacky stuff! :pac:

Also, pedalboards. Not those plastic Boss ones. This kinda thing... http://www.nycpedalboards.com

seachto7

+1 on the pedalboards!!

Welease

Stock aside..

I would like a decent level of customer service..

If you say you will ring me back.. then ring me back..
If you are going to get me a price.. then get back to me with the price..
If there is going to be a delay then let me know...

Simple stuff that doesn't cost the earth, but it's what most often has made me purchase items abroad.

ciaranmac

Don't underestimate product knowledge. If it's a choice between buying from (a) the cute chick who doesn't know how to plug a guitar into an amp or if that mains buzzing sound is normal, or (b) the obnoxious guy who grits his teeth at every bum note when you're trying out the gear, but grunts the right answers to all your questions, (b) wins hands down. Maybe that's just me though.

Squidgy Black

ciaranmac wrote: »

Don't underestimate product knowledge. If it's a choice between buying from (a) the cute chick who doesn't know how to plug a guitar into an amp or if that mains buzzing sound is normal, or (b) the obnoxious guy who grits his teeth at every bum note when you're trying out the gear, but grunts the right answers to all your questions, (b) wins hands down. Maybe that's just me though.

if you know exactly what you're going in to get, and know everything about it, the cute chick is always a good one

Ravelleman

Customer service is my main gripe. I can understand smaller Irish shops being less willing to take risks on stocking less well known guitar brands but customer service is obviously something that can be changed very easily.

None of these comments are directed at anywhere in particular. It's more a series of observations from all around Dublin, so please don't take any offence!

For example:

Don't assume that because someone is under 25 that all they want/know about is the Marshall MG series or amps or its equivalent. A lot of younger buyers (and by this I mean late teens/early twenties) are actually quite discerning customers, given the free availability of information on the internet. From my experience, it's frequently older customers that will buy on a whim without any kind of research, often paying over the odds.

Try not to state the obvious. I don't need to be told that the Fender Princeton Reissue I'm plugging into "doesn't have the distortion I'm used to" What on earth does that mean anyway? Nor do I need to be told that the SG Standard I'm trying comes with a hard case - it should. They all do! :pac:

Give people access to tuners while they try items out. Few things are worse than trying a guitar in a busy shop only to find that it's horribly out of tune and you can't hear it enough to even tune it to itself. Even worse is watching a staff member attempting to tune by ear for you and then handing you a guitar that is first of all out of tune and second of all tuned so low that there isn't enough tension in the 9 gauge strings it came with from the factory. This has happened to me on a number of occasions.

Try not to overhype mundane gear. Fenders and Gibsons are cool and all but we've all seen plenty of them! One funny thing you always hear is that "this Les Paul is one of the good ones" - bad ones are never encountered in Irish shops!

Anyway, good work on trying to give people what they'd like to see. I think customer service is a place that you guys can really win people over on. Take my comments with a pinch of salt - maybe I'm too cynical.

Squidgy Black

Ravelleman wrote: »

Don't assume that because someone is under 25 that all they want/know about is the Marshall MG series or amps or its equivalent. A lot of younger buyers (and by this I mean late teens/early twenties) are actually quite discerning customers, given the free availability of information on the internet. From my experience, it's frequently older customers that will buy on a whim without any kind of research, often paying over the odds.



Give people access to tuners while they try items out. Few things are worse than trying a guitar in a busy shop only to find that it's horribly out of tune and you can't hear it enough to even tune it to itself. Even worse is watching a staff member attempting to tune by ear for you and then handing you a guitar that is first of all out of tune and second of all tuned so low that there isn't enough tension in the 9 gauge strings it came with from the factory. This has happened to me on a number of occasions.

These two points should be made into laws! I'm sick of walking into a store and looking around, and people assuming I want to buy an mg or a vox vt.

I have to say though, I worked in a store for a bit, and if you'd seem what some of the teenagers like myself do, picking up les paul standards and plugging them into hotrod deluxe's, and then strumming two chords over and over, or the worst I've seen a few times, pick up basses and starting playing them through 700 euro guitar amps. and then the a**holes who sit down with the acoustics and all sing along to a song they play, it really is harder working in a store than you might think, so you tend to get wound up and sick of customers like the one's I've had experiences with.

Ravelleman

stetyrrell wrote: »

... so you tend to get wound up and sick of customers like the one's I've had experiences with.

I understand what you mean. I think that's probably one of the biggest challenges of retail in general!

ham_n_mustard

if you stock bass gear, then stock decent bass gear. i've been to a few stores outside of dublin that stock plenty of mid to high end guitar amps but only stock the likes of roland bass cubes and ashdown perfect ten for bass players.they are all well and good, but not everybody is looking for smaller/low powered gear. How many stores can you go into and find they stock a full bass stack or a 700w+ head? not many i'd say.

dont take the piss with prices. i went into a store in cork city recently that had an Orange bass terror 500 in stock, looking for about 200 quid more than german online stores. (cant remember the exact price but im fairly sure this was accurate) i'm all for keeping my business in the country, but is this really acceptable? even if you cant match the superstore prices exactly, add some value as an incentive. something like heavy discount on a few sets of strings or pedals for customers buying a guitar/amp worth over a certain amount.

again, good customer service doesnt cost a lot but really pays off. if somebody really looks after me in store, i'll go back. if all i get are grunts and a hard sell, then i wont.

Johnny Storm

What cute chicks? Where?
For me main requirement is a wide range of guitars

Orando Broom

stetyrrell wrote: »

These two points should be made into laws! I'm sick of walking into a store and looking around, and people assuming I want to buy an mg or a vox vt.

I have to say though, I worked in a store for a bit, and if you'd seem what some of the teenagers like myself do, picking up les paul standards and plugging them into hotrod deluxe's, and then strumming two chords over and over, or the worst I've seen a few times, pick up basses and starting playing them through 700 euro guitar amps. and then the a**holes who sit down with the acoustics and all sing along to a song they play, it really is harder working in a store than you might think, so you tend to get wound up and sick of customers like the one's I've had experiences with.

It's good that you no longer deal with people. Your attitude is terrible. If I'm a paying customer and I want to sing Kumbaya, so be it. Unless you are psychic and can tell by look alone that I am not buying your attitude is terrible and symptomatic of the problems in shops in Ireland.

Would you not have come over to the person and set up the bass for them? Did that not occur to you? Perhaps you couldn't hear them over the sneering.

The quicker shops root out the likes of you and fire your asses the sooner people will have more regard for them.

Seziertisch

ham_n_mustard wrote: »

dont take the piss with prices. i went into a store in cork city recently that had an Orange bass terror 500 in stock, looking for about 200 quid more than german online stores. (cant remember the exact price but im fairly sure this was accurate) i'm all for keeping my business in the country, but is this really acceptable? even if you cant match the superstore prices exactly, add some value as an incentive. something like heavy discount on a few sets of strings or pedals for customers buying a guitar/amp worth over a certain amount.

+1

Ravelleman

Orando Broom wrote: »

The quicker shops root out the likes of you and fire your asses the sooner people will have more regard for them.

There's no need to ruin an otherwise constructive thread!

I think shop's need to find a balance between offering good customer service to people who really want it and obviously protecting their staff's sanity. We all know what musical instrument shops are like; we've all seen how some people treat their stock. I do have a lot of sympathy for some of the people who work there. I think it can be a difficult environment to work in.

But to be honest sometimes they don't deserve sympathy. One occasion springs to mind in particular. I was in a shop trying out something on Christmas Eve, thinking about a late gift. I felt sorry for the guy working there because obviously he just wanted to get home but when he wouldn't believe me that the pickup switch was broken all my sympathy evaporated. He told me that he had fixed it and that it had worked when he played the guitar - it hadn't, he didn't even check.

Anyway...

thewintermute

I'd be happy if the bias wasn't towards guitars only.If this is the shop I think it is, then despite the name there's a good supply of other stringed instruments at mid-level prices. (I'm thinking ukuleles in particular, may have seen a dulcimer at one stage)A shop where you can have a go on a banjo, bouzouki, harmonium, xylophone, marimba, dulcimer or whatever would appeal to me. Some diversity of instuments would be good. Even diifferent typres of guitars, parlour, renaissance, etc might be fun.The Cigar box guitars are a nice touch too, I'm not anti-guitar, but they are hugely over-represented in shops.tuppenceworth

Rigsby

thewintermute wrote: »

I'm not anti-guitar, but they are hugely over-represented in shops.tuppenceworth

Agreed, but this is where the bulk of the demand is, and teenagers make up a lot of this demand. I have yet to go into a shop and see teenagers trying out banjos, dulcimers, xlyophones, etc


On the subject of grumpy staff : I suppose everyone can have a bad day, but I always seem to encounter staff on such days. :rolleyes:

Maybe it can be a hard environment at times to work in, but we all encounter this, and have to make the best of it. Who ever said work was easy ? No good taking it out on a potential paying customer. Without him, the shop assistant would not have a job at all... be that job good bad or otherwise.