Musical Instruments

[#1]

I'm very worried about this recent addition to the Future Shop catalog... I've been an avid musician since I was 4, and have always gone to the specialty stores to get my fix for GAS (Gear aquisition syndrome) and now that I hear FS is going to be selling instruments I fear for the newbie musician and the mom & pop stores (like Avenue Guitars in Edmonton) who will have to fight the giants for the ability to gain some new customers to the wild world of music.

I fear that the abilities of the sales people will be reflective of the salesmen in cell phones, audio, visual, and other departments of the store. ie: Whats the difference between an Eiphone Guitar and a Gibson guitar besides $2000?

I used to sell this stuff for three years, and every day was a learning experience, hell the 10 year old veterns we had on staff didn't even have all the answers...

I also cannot believe Yorkville would allow Gibsons to be sold at FS. I know it's in the works, but it's pretty effed up... Yorkville is owned by Long & McQuade... why would Jack Long and co. actually allow FS to compete with their own stores... especially with L&M South will be opening in a few months just 5 min away from this new Edmonton store...

I can't see any self respecting musician will be going to FS to get their instruments....

I know I wont... In fact I can only see myself going into this store to help send people to the real music shops.

[#2]

I visited the place today and I'm warming up the idea... they got some decent people behind the counter who I've worked with in the past onstage and off. I like the idea of being able to get cables and strings on a Sunday when no one else is open... but I still don't think I would actually sucumb to buying a guitar from FS. The long term support from a traditional dealer is a bigger pay off in my eyes.

[#3]

you're scared avenue guitars will go out of business?

maybe if everything in that **bleep**ing store wasn't jacked up 500% in price, they wouldn't have to worry. edmonton's music scene will be better without avenue

[#4]

it seems like a logical step for for a company to me, the advent of garageband and more of these home DAW solutions being bundled with systems and laptops, it makes perfect sense to me to offer a consumer the chance to get the firewire interface along with a guitar or keyboard all in one place.  An example i could best use is myself, ive been in and out of the recording industry for the last 13 years, working mostly in public broadcasting, and some engineering moonlighting.  My kids have grew up around it, i have a Pro Tools HD setup at home and other bells and whistles, but my kids never really showed an interest until as part of their music cirriculum at school they were set projects on garageband. Now theyre hooked.  I can imagine similar situations with parents who dont know anything about such things turning to high street stores when wanting to ful fil their childrens desires.  As a person who very much advocates artistic development of children, i applaud that more "high street" stores offer such solutions, as long as the prices are inline with specialist retailers, and there is no mark up business going on.  I'm pretty sure Long & McQuade cant do much about futureshop selling brands they carry, and for that fact that any other major music retailer carries as that would be anti competitive, and whilst i'm no expert on such law i would imagine it would violate one in some shape or form.

Message Edited by addntox on 03-11-2009 01:24 PM

[#5]

I dunno, seems silly and I can't see their staff being more knowledgeable then guitar techs and pro players, not to mention the selection will never be the same even if you have to go to multiple stores to find what you want, that is more options then only a few items at one store and having a limited choice. L&M have been guilty of price markups for years, it wasn't until about 2 years ago that they finally leveled out and stopped hosing people for stuff, still I dislike having to pay 45 dollars for a box of sax reeds or some of their prices for guitar pedals.

[#6]

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jthistle wrote:

you're scared avenue guitars will go out of business?

maybe if everything in that **bleep**ing store wasn't jacked up 500% in price, they wouldn't have to worry. edmonton's music scene will be better without avenue

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It's also called living further out of the way then an urban center like southern Ontario, guaranteed there is half as much competition for instruments in Edmonton as there is in Toronto, so stores don't have to cut costs as much aside from L&M who have to charge the same as every other store in the franchise.

[#7]

There's no real reason to go to Future Shop, at least in Edmonton. The pricing at (Competitor), for instance, is generally as good or better.

[#8]

Well, although the Original Poster made this thread over a year ago...

Keep in mind that if a certain competitor who is a registered seller of the products does have a better price on the same model, then we will give you that price plus 10% off from the difference between the prices.

We don't by any means carry specialty equipment that those specific retailers will carry for musicians, but we do offer the equipment for beginners to get into the hobby and several of our locations, as well as the online store, have offered professional-grade recording microphones, headphones and the like for years; it's not like we're new to the professional musician and audio reproduction scene.