Sam Ash closing all stores

[Tony Prior]

Not shocked . I am gonna take a ride to the one in Charlotte today, maybe something will catch my eye. I am KINDA in the market for a low end Taylor Dreadnaught. 110 or 210. OF which I have had both over the years and sold them ! My 414 is a Grand Auditorium ( doesn't project like a Dreadnaught) and I don't want to take my 55 year old Guild D35 out to the weekly Bluegrass jams.


https://guitar.com/news/industry-news/s ... ll-stores/

[Dave Mudgett]

Yup - this is now on their website - https://www.samash.com/closing-stores

It's a tough market out there. After a period of decline after the crash in 2009 or so, guitar sales boomed during and shortly after the covid lockdown, but the market has turned down during the last year or so.

I think sticker shock from heavy price increases the last 3 years has really made it hard to sell new musical gear. I also think the passing of Sammy last year was a serious blow.

[John Larson]

Not super surprised, Sam Ash never adapted well to the online buying system I remember trying to use their website on a mobile device to order an effect pedal and it was so broken I couldn't.

I lived for a while in a place where there was a Sam Ash across the street from Guitar Center and this was post 2008 crash but it was pretty evident who was adapting to the new market and who wasn't.

[Jon Light (deceased)]

I can't possibly account for how much $$ I spent at brick mortar Sam Ash, White Plains and 48th Street, in the 80's & 90's.
Yeah, even though they were online, I never really even thought of them when ordering something in the e-commerce era. It seemed like an after-thought business model.
It was an actual family business and I'm very sorry for the family.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Wish I'd known before they closed shop. There were a few items I had been looking at a few weeks ago.

I've always had good luck with them. Been several years ago that I first dealt with them.

Just within the last six months, I bought a used tube rack amp from them and it turned out to have problems. They cheerfully refunded my money even though it was past the return date.

So happens another amp of the same maker and design came up on their site and I bought it at the posted price. It's in great condition and still in use. The price of this amp was about 1/3 of what the other sites were listing.

[Brooks Montgomery]

Not super surprised, Sam Ash never adapted well to the online buying system I remember trying to use their website on a mobile device to order an effect pedal and it was so broken I couldn't.

I lived for a while in a place where there was a Sam Ash across the street from Guitar Center and this was post 2008 crash but it was pretty evident who was adapting to the new market and who wasn't.

And Guitar Center filed for chapter 11 back in 2020.
Amazing how many large box-type stores expand and expand only to feed the shark. But once they stop swimming forward (expanding in new locations) their payables catch up with them and they go bankrupt because they owe their vendors so much. Happens again and again.

[Dave Meis]

My Emmons loafer came from Sam Ash in 1979..

[ajm]

"Not super surprised, Sam Ash never adapted well to the online buying system I remember trying to use their website on a mobile device to order an effect pedal and it was so broken I couldn't."

If having a website that is completely NOT user friendly is any indication, look for a GC liquidation sale soon.

[Tony Prior]

Wish I'd known before they closed shop. There were a few items I had been looking at a few weeks ago.

.

Well the stores are not closed quite yet. I did a walk thru today in the local Charlotte store and after seeing the so called store closing prices, to me it seemed like something is off.

HUGE STORE CLOSING SIGNS OUTSIDE

Inside signs - UP to 10% off on Guitars , UP to 30% off on small accessories and 5% off on strings. A $7 set of strings, you get .35 Cents off.

My conclusion is that there is no STORE CLOSING SALE going on.

[John Larson]

Not super surprised, Sam Ash never adapted well to the online buying system I remember trying to use their website on a mobile device to order an effect pedal and it was so broken I couldn't.

I lived for a while in a place where there was a Sam Ash across the street from Guitar Center and this was post 2008 crash but it was pretty evident who was adapting to the new market and who wasn't.

And Guitar Center filed for chapter 11 back in 2020.
Amazing how many large box-type stores expand and expand only to feed the shark. But once they stop swimming forward (expanding in new locations) their payables catch up with them and they go bankrupt because they owe their vendors so much. Happens again and again.

I cant even keep track of how many times I've tried something at GC only to order it later on Sweetwater or zzounds.

[Brooks Montgomery]

In my opinion Sweetwater runs a pretty tight ship.

[Jack Hanson]

I made my first (and last) online purchase from a Sam Ash store in Richmond, VA through Reverb.com; it was a dead-mint used Epiphone ES-339 in a high-end Roadrunner heavily-padded gig bag. The Epi arrived (thankfully unscathed) in an el-cheapo generic bag. Your classic bait & switch. I called 'em on it, and they eventually made it good, but only after Reverb intervened. If this is their normal business practice, it's not difficult to see why they're going under.

[John Larson]

In my opinion Sweetwater runs a pretty tight ship.

Well it's also in my opinion shifted what manufacturers can get away with as far as setup on instruments since "Sweetwater will fix it with their 55 point inspection." I've seen over 1K epiphone guitars with zero setup for intonation at a local music store. It's a pretty abysmal sign of what consumers will let the industry get away.

[Jerry Overstreet]

I was just going by their statement Dave posted that the date was May 2. Anyway, the items I was interested in don't show up now.

[Jack Hanson]

...I've seen over 1K epiphone guitars with zero setup for intonation at a local music store.

I have seen new Gibsons that were even worse. In the last year I purchased two new or nearly-new Epis online, and I knew going in that I would most likely need to level and dress their frets, re-slot or replace both nuts, tweak the truss rods, and set their intonation and action. Neither the twelve year-old girls who build them, the importer (Gibson), nor their dealer network have any inclination or incentive to do so, especially at the price point they're intended to sell for. Lotsa bang for the buck with some Epis -- especially if you can set 'em up yourself.

[Bill McCloskey]

Sweetwater redefined the industry for customer support. Bad customer support will eventually be your downfall, even though it might take awhile when you are the only game in town. By placing customer support front and center, sweetwater drank everyone's milkshake.

I know the name of my sweetwater rep. He knows my name. Sometimes he calls just to make sure everything is going well.

Can you name your Sam Ash rep? Does they know your name?

Some people just never adjusted to online, customer service, and no longer being the only game in town.