vic wrote:
Re Ray's and Mika's posts above...I wonder if the following scenario is far fetched.
The stores as we know them today are no longer there. Their demise has been spawned by higher and higher overheads, a weak Rand, sales staff no longer satisfied with working mainly for commission only, their irate punters whom they have neglected, maybe even misinformed, and overcharged for many years to fund the high rent and overheads they had to cough up, etc.
I've been overseas for a holiday 4 years running. Each year we have paid less rands for our forex than the year before. The rand is actually strengthening.
Neither of the two shops I've seen mentioned here - McGibbon's and Music Connection, pay their staff on a commission basis. There ARE shops that do that, but it's not a universal practice.
I deal with Music Connection and McGibbon's, and very, very occasionally with Ronnie's Allbang And Strummit. They make a profit, I understand that. There is a difference between making a profit and cynical exploitation of customers. I've never felt like the latter is going on in any of those shops. It may happen in some establishments, or some individuals in those stores may take such attitudes, but it seems to me that it's seldom fair or accurate to tar everybody with the same brush.
I would like to point out that any store in the musical instrument game is in a difficult position because they have a lot of money tied up in stock that is often slow-moving. You can work on a small markup for items that you turn over quickly. In this country you can't turn over, say, Fender Stratocasters or Martin D28s or Marshall stacks over fast enough that you can make a small mark up per item. Ultimately, of course, we pay that price, but that's the price we have to pay for having the items on display and ready for demonstration.
Some on-line stores have a very different model based on not having money tied up in stock. They have JIT arrangements with their suppliers and buy their stock as the orders come in. You can't do that with bespoke pedals, with amps, with high end guitars - not if people want to try before they buy. What those guys CAN save on is rent - they don't need to rent shop space in a shopping mall. How accessible and open they are to customers is very variable and it shouldn't be taken for granted (you can't go down to the Take 2 warehouse and browse their shelves - they may not even have a warehouse or shelves). If they do offer a "walk in" or "by appointment" service then that's only useful if you are in the same town or are willing to bear the cost of getting to them.
I am sure, for example, that Karel provides a very good product , has sound ethics etc etc. However he's not around the corner from me. McGibbon's are half an hour away for me, Music Connection a little less. There's a thing called convenience, and we have to decide what that's worth to us.
This is not a music store problem really. Lately I've had several rows with vendors in various market segments who provide shoddy service and don't have good knowledge of what theyr'e selling. I do think they are sloppy, and I do think they are frustrating to deal with, I'm not sure though that they're doing it deliberately and cynically.
I've also met some very professional, pro-active people. Not all in on-line stores either. High street shops can be great, and on-line stores can be flakes. There's no correlation between store type and competence.
