New Music Store Idea

[mantis]

Hey guys,
I currently own a In Home Audio Video company but lately my partner and I have been kicking around the idea of a Music Store.
This Music store will be laid out much differently then what most of you are use to.

You would walk in and have a Girl sitting at a counter waiting for you, She would ask you what you came in from and point you in the right direction.
For Guitars there will be several rooms. A room for beginners with Entry Level guitars and amps. Then a Middle of the road Experienced Guitar players room who are looking to move up in the world of gear, then the high end room where the best of the best will be. Inside this room will be Private demo rooms where you can request a Guitar and amp or amps and guitars to try out privately. No other players to bother you while to demo some new gear. This will be the only area with this ability and the rooms can be used by others upon request and availability.

The Effects will be all displayed but there will be Demo units you can try out. All before you buy.

This idea will roll out for the Drums , Keyboards , Bass guitars and Pro Audio equipment for Studio and Live performances.

Lesson Rooms will be there for all ages and levels.

There will be Band nights where local bands can come and and perform a set.

There will be a recording studio for local musicians wanting to come in and record. can be a single player or a full band.

A Hot Dog bar will be on site along with other offered food and drink. A full Restaurant basically if you will Bar style.

What do you guys think of such a place? Does anywhere like this exist now?

[Nightbat]

Does the girl have big tits?

[DRM]

Does the girl have big tits?

And a sister?

[markD]

What do you guys think of such a place? Does anywhere like this exist now?

Seems cool, but ambitious - and expensive to open/maintain. How many music stores are already in your area? What is being carried in your local stores? Does your area have the socio-economic strength to maintain this business model?

[Tetsuo]

Might be real tough to maintain the cost. Chicago Music Exchange has a good layout pretty much all high end though and a reputation blah blah blah but a ton of their sales are online (aside from reverb which they also own but is a separate company). You look at a Wilcutt or music zoo (your inventory is going to be similarly valued and has less turns) they also need a lot of online sales. You have to also expect that 95% of your traffic is not there to buy. You are competing with guitar center and online stores for all the bread and butter items like strings too it's doable but it depends on your cash flow and how you will tackle the market.

There is a little tiny store front a few miles from my house and they are a top Taylor dealer in the whole country. They really only sell Taylor and Martin though. They have a market and a reputation.

[jgcable]

Sounds like a really good idea providing you don't need to make any money. The large chains like Guitar Center make all their money on consumables. A consumable is something that has to be purchased all the times.. like strings, pics, sticks etc....
The only reason GC has brick and mortar stores is they are carried financially by their online business.
I agree with Tetsuo.... 95% of people that walk into GC and spend an hour trying out everything walk out with practically nothing.

[horns666]

Guitar Center used to really cool...until Mitt Romney bought 'em.

Now it's a big store that carry "safe" staples that sell..Marshall, Fender, Ibanez, Gibson, Line 6, "consumables" , ect.. It was a huge store filled with huge amps. Now an empty shell filled with small amps, and random used gear.

I get FREE picks there and and fiddle with random stuff. That's how I found my Blackstar.

[pianoguyy]

The problem with 'new ideas' is simple --- GOVERNMENT.
It sounds good, until you actually start to implement things and realize that in order to be in compliance that you have to...


That big titted sex kitten that greets and escorts everyone, they need paid. And you have to really be careful who and how you hire them. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Just ask Hooter's how many times they've been sued because some guy or fat chick or middle aged housewife wanted to work there, or worse, the ex employees that talk about how you treated them likes pieces of meat.

Those 'private' demo rooms would need to meet certain size requirements with clean air, emergency exits, and stuff. Your space would need to be huge to accommodate it all.

Depending on your local rules, any live performances may need to be zoned and require special licenses.

Food and drink? Nope, forget about it. Health codes will drive you insane. That doesn't even bring up the people who will eat the food and touch your gear with their slimy hot dog fingers.



Believe me, it is more of a headache than it is worth...
And then, 80% of the people who buy something are going to just buy it online because the price is cheaper - even though they came into your building and used your property and consumed your services. BUT you will get plenty of the people that bring their stuff in and want it serviced for free because it has a warranty.

[horns666]

My cousin onws the biggest private owned Music Shop in the Cleveland area. Bruno Bros Music. Bob, Jerry established themselves as a band early 70's and he's been in the biz for almsot 40 years. Bless Him!! That's very rare. Because of his smarts of location, music lessons near schools, and his name goes a long way with people including ones that do every kind of repair. Be it Guitars, Piano, Drums, so on. He stocks alot of what people call "safe" things. But Peavey, Fender, Marshall, Gibson, Music Manis nothing to sneeze at. If you wanted to order anything he'll do his best and match costs with the best of them. He tunred me onto ALOT of cheaper brand 20 years ago like EV loaded Sonic cabs, and the first series 200wt Yorkville bass amps..that smoked my GK-800 RB then.

There was a MINT 5150 half stack collecting dust in 2002 for 400 bucks on consignment. Nobody cared about guitars in 2000-2002....then BOOOOM! Cleveland Metal and I both passed on it.

I bought his personal, AWESOME white 1976 Gibson Thunderbird bass. I sold it back, and he ordered me a G&L L-2000 for less that 700 bucks. You can't get a tribute model for that price. I gotta go visit him. My son works near him now. I bought Vinny's 13 pc Black Sonor kit there. He stopped playing them when he discovered poon. That happened to so many freinds of mine!!!

So your dream can happen. But Piano guy really nailed it with the other aspects of your idea. I worked at the Airport and ONE lucky food vender got ALL the Glory . All the taxis and employees made that one Romanian (Wife's father sponsored him to US) ...in this strange, small world. He was a success with his 'Transylvania' food coach. Timing, hard work, and good ideas are still potent, and a lot of luck. Personally I do not believe in 'luck' at all.

But if you're in a very established band/muscian, or you have a cult-like status while working at Guitar Center or the like..it could happen. Musicians are fussy. They still like to talk shop with like-minded people, test drive gear and ect. I find that GC is a GREAT recruiting place to find potential band memebers to record with or play with. Some may want to scoff at younger kids, but I don't. I KNOW that talent doesn't have an age bracket. Kids are taking to complex music like a fish to water because everything is right there. We didn't have that luxury. Now kids by the ripe age of 12 are blowing the doors off. This including girls, which is awesome IMO! That was few and far between, and something we never dreamed of when this forum was new.

[Shawn Lutz]

Retail Music is a tough business with competition from the big outlets and online shops MI, GC, SA etc. Basically from my perspective is I buy on price point and price point only. I don't need your store for anything else so if the price is low I buy. The problem is the price in YOUR store isnt the best price I can get so why would I buy from you? A pretty girl in the front? sorry bro, come on man. I have other places for that.

The bad idea as I see is right off the bat you intend impede my progress by stopping me with an attractive girl asking what I want...its not needed. What if you have 5-6 people in inquiring? The end of the line walks if it takes too long just to get in the brick and mortar. For me, and I understand I'm a informed buyer that doesn't need a salesman I just want your employees to GTFO of my way, I'm here for a reason and I'll get what I came for and if I want it I'll be at the cash register and don't need staff slowing me down.

I'm not saying a retail music store can't have success...its just tough market when mom and pop can compete in low price points. Most retail shops have become showrooms for people to try products to see if they like them or not...then go buy online and save 20-40% of mom and pops best price because they do NOT have the purchasing power to beat done manufactures wholesale prices.

[Newc]

You'd do very little business with people who "appreciate the experience" your model would provide. You'd get a fair amount of traffic, but money changing hands is business, traffic is not.

"The Girl" up front is a cliché that doesn't sell these days unless she's a known local musical talent, and even then it's iffy. More often than not, she'd have to deal with conversationalists than ringing up sales.

As well, asking people their skill level and then limiting their choices based on that leads to other problems, like "I don't know shit about theory and can't read or write a note, but that doesn't mean I can't play, that just means I can't play for the local orchestra".

Recording software is everywhere these days, many free, and can run on the weakest computers and even tablets that are cheap, so unless your in-store studio is going to start off with a big-name producer chained to the desk, the most you'll get is one booking a year for maybe 2 weeks. You'll pay more to power the console than you'll make from doing so.

Welcome to the digital DIY age.


I blame the internet.

[rjohnstone]

As other have stated... sounds expensive to operate.
One good bit of news... GC is millions in debt and about to go out of business. Hopefully the mom and pops can make a come back.

[horns666]

You need a Catchy name. Alot of promotion..like..off the top.."Tits N' Picks" Combine Hooters -like resturant with Music shop.."Finger Ezy".."Rock Humpers".. "Rusty Tuba".. I$I$..We Guy Bold..Rock Humpers..Gimme Money...Free Gas.

Offer everyone a free popsicle in Summer. Hot Co-Co in Winter ..Co-Co-Pops..

You gotta have a catchy name. It works for everything..gimmicks too. I'm going wear a Popeye's Box on my head and audition for Ozzy.

[Sephiroth]

Sounds risky. Someone could try out that Rhoads or Explorer in private and when you check on him he's gone and the protruding tips are all FUBAR and you're out being able to sell it at retail and gotta take a scratch-and-dent loss on it.



Plus from an economic perspective = sounds like a large retail space = huge rent. So you'd have to move shitloads of inventory and deal in moving tons of cheap squires and gio's like Guitar Center to pay that rent.


It's a nice idea in theory. But I see it as expensive, and too reliant on the honor system that people in those private rooms won't burn you with damaged gear