Will Guitar Center + Sam Ash go out of business?

[guitargo25]

nowadays it seems everything is actually cheaper online even with shipping for something like a guitar. And also IMHO amazon does so well because if someone wants something it pops up with the most best reviewed items with thousands of good reviews and people just want quick choices, ok this must be a good guitar or synth, pedal etc, buys it. eBay you can find better deals and more selection but have to sift through things for hours sometimes, It seems the types to buy from brick and mortar are more detail-oriented but are the minority now?

It's just so nice to be able to stroll into one of these places with no intention to buy and just test gear, often stuff I don't want to even buy or not even in the market for anything new but passing by and go in for a quick jam. I feel bad about the sales associates because they work for commissions and I barely bought anything from there over the years (I prefer somewhat older synths, 1 or 2 guitars which can last a lifetime and might have better options and price online but can test similar in stores). I used to go a lot and just buy something like a pack of picks or a cable and play with tons of pricey gear for hours sometimes.

 

It just seems in X amount of years these places won't be making enough to stay open and that'd suck. I'd be willing to pay ~$10 every time just to go in a demo stuff that I'll likely not buy, so if everyone that went in without buying something paid $10 they'd make probably more.

[daddymack]

Although I agree that the on-line shopper is the wave of the future, somethings, like guitars, cars, houses, dogs and shoes need to be tried out before buying.

Would I be willing to pay a fee to go try out something? I dunno'bou'that....although if it would prevent the usual crowd of pimply-faced teens playing bad imitations of 'Enter Sandman' or 'Stairway to Freebird', then maybe it would be worth it.

They closed the closest Sam A$h...which makes going to any of the remaining ones a multi-hour trek. Fortunately, GC Corporate is only a few miles [as the crow flies] from where I sit, so they have not closed any local stores since the post pandemic 're-openings'.

[guitargo25]

I was thinking about how guitars etc are so important to demo before buying but even with online nowadays so many people send things back risk-free then it becomes open-box discounted, and retailers are fine with that usually someone will buy it and they still make millions. Even at the store people return things after buyer remorse but with online it might be less likely for a small thing they end up not liking they might figure they already got it delivered and not to package it back up and start an online return process, possibly have to bring it to post office etc might actually end up with less returns this way lol. 

[guitargo25]

I went to guitar center today in NJ and was at Sam Ash a few days ago, haven't been to either in a long time, keyboard room IMHO used to be a lot better at sam ash, more knobby analog type boards, barely had anything this time except lots of 'stage pianos' and no workstation ROMplers. Guitar section seems better than GC's though, a bit wider selection (no duplicate guitars in different colors and not so many $150 guitars but those seem to sell a lot at GC), but also almost every single guitar at GC within reach was totally out of tune, I went to the acoustic guitar room hoping to find just a low-E to keep in my mine to start tuning from but those were all out of tune too, workers sitting around chatting/jamming, had to use my phone for a tuning video.  GC keyboard room was nicer though, more analog stuff and more modern workstations. It seems GC is doing well with lessons though so that's good.