Opening a music store but one thing holding me back . . .

I haven't read through the thread, so.....

The only mom-n-pop brick and mortar stores that I know who have managed to stay in business rely heavily on lessons, rentals, retail sales of band equipment for school music departments. If you decide to proceed forward, might be wise to get in good with local school(s) music departments. Deal in new and used band instruments, horns, and such. Do repairs. tweaks, piano tuning. Combine lessons with bi-weekly showcase shows of your students at the store...parking lot if necessary...music, food. Community. Become a part of the community, a place where former high school kids will take their own kids in the future, just like the good old days of their youth. As your business grows(hopefully), possibly find a place where you can hold band camp. Segment, hold an end of two week band camp showcase for rock band, jazz band, big band, or whatever.

Good luck.
 
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Good point about the instrument rental facet of the business Mick! I'd not included that in my viewpoint but it is a residual cash generator "if" you can get the business. e.g. getting the schools to rent through you...problem is unless they are a brand new school they generally all have age old relationships with existing vendors and it's hard to break through unless you are related to the district supervisor or offer a significant savings or other advantage which is hard to do..

IMO the brick n mortar music store business is a bloody tough road to hoe...I would not advise anyone to "give it a try" or expend time, money and energy into a business model that IMO is at best is just hanging on... I am currently involved by proxy in the opening of a 6300 sf kitchen and bath showroom...In los Angeles where there are at least a couple 100 other K&B showrooms...Kitchen and cabinets and countertops are kind of hard to buy online...though they can be...so brick n mortar still make sense...competing against a few 100 others within 30 miles in Los Angeles where the population exceeds 10 million AND being a 10 Frwy visible storefront will @ 500,000 cars driving by each day we have a chance of succeeding but certainly it may fail...not my money I'm just the eyes and ears for the Chinese investors so it is what it is and I hope they win but it will not be a walk in the park.
 
*row* to hoe

City boys. :rolleyes:

jk TAE. I let it go the first time. But you might be right, opening a brick-n-mortar music store these days might be a tough road to hoe. Truer words, my friend. Truer words.
 
That's funny Mick...and I grew up in the 1932 orange capital of the world COVINA the city of coves and vines...In the 50's when I was kid we still had rows and rows and rows of Orange trees in the orange groves...but the row to hoe makes total sense in hearing it said that way..been using road ( here in the city :)) all my life...good chance I heard it said properly as a kid and screwed it up later...like ....What's the matter are you death? and I was always looking for this illusive giraffe when people felt a draft :eek: had a lot of ear infuctions as a kid...
 
Reading the Rolling Stone article on GC and Gibson.....my bet would be for Online sales as the main focus as they mentioned. The brick store I suppose you could repair, teach and anything online cant do.

If you think about a online store then you also have ability to sell anything because the shipping and computer websites get up and going....you can sell anything, guitars, drums , dildo's, candy, candles, and be a middle man.

My perspective is saturated on stores from a area with 10 GC's within an hour it seems pretty saturated. Im in Dallas/FortWorth about 8million people so maybe GC saturated the area? My homey in Iowa is 1 store for the whole capital city. 4 in the whole state of Iowa. So maybe a small shop could do better there?

But even with GC locally I always shop online first. The last guitar I bought was online but in town! kind of funny but it worked out fine...I just drove over and got it instead of shipping. But it was bought on Reverb.

What would the inventory be for guitars?
Fenders, Squiers, Gibson, Epiphone, Shure Mics, MXL mics all those prices are locked online so I assume its a quantity sale game because these days people cant ask $50 more than online prices.

as someone said returns would be something I wouldnt like. then its damaged or used or the paperwork is gone...

I expect to see GC shutdown stores, it boggles my mind how they all can stay open around here. The business model was flood the place with stores...I dont know, time will tell. At least around here where theres a GC every 15 minutes..lol

but dont listen to me....I thought bottled water was the dumbest thing ever and wouldnt last a week.:confused:
 
What's the worst thing that could happen? You and your investors waste a few years and go bankrupt. You'll be back on your feet in no time. "No time" being about a decade if you play your cards right.

But if you work hard for every waking hour of every day and the shifting tides of consumer grade instruments go your way, you just might be able to squeeze a meager living out of it if people still want to take lessons at your shop even though everything you can teach them they can learn at home for free with 3 million different Youtube tutorials.

I'd say go for it. 100%. Give it all you got.
 
as a side thought: A lot of successful businesses here (and in the local larger towns) are buying at flea markets/online ads (Craig's and etc.)/and from various other sundry locations and selling both new and used. There isn't one of these doing music locally. We have GC and a couple piano/band stores + two independents that are semi-niche (one has exceptional musicians that teach a multitude of classes, the other rents big and small sound systems and lighting for events).
Anyway, I think if one of your partners was interested in scouring local (and maybe not so local) venues and sites for good prices on merchandise you could sell for decent profits, that might be a nice extra income.
Another thing that makes or breaks (at least around here) is a good luthier and/or technician. One local shop in Fayetteville does a lot of $$ because everyone knows he's the one to go to to get a good setup on a guitar or get your amp fixed/pots cleaned/what-not.

Hope something in that mess helps!
 
Retail sucks now for any business. Shit Toys R Us went down.

I agree that you would surely need to be more than just a sales store. Offer much more than the big box stores offer and maybe that can work.

Hell, the kids used clothing stores are doing well...
 
I recon the only way a music store could survive today is to be Small / low overheads, friendly, sell good gear, have a good number of musicians around the location that can drop in and maybe hang out a little, as they always see something they want. One thing that works is having a music school next door or in the building.

Alan
 
witzendoz said:
I recon the only way a music store could survive today is to be Small / low overheads, friendly, sell good gear, have a good number of musicians around the location that can drop in and maybe hang out a little, as they always see something they want. One thing that works is having a music school next door or in the building.

Alan
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This would help as well as the other useful suggestions in this thread, but I'm still leery about music only.

How about a Music Store/Pot Dispensary/Coffee Shop? That way the last two things can offset all the money you're going to lose on the music store. Just a thought.
 
ez_willis said:
This would help as well as the other useful suggestions in this thread, but I'm still leery about music only.

How about a Music Store/Pot Dispensary/Coffee Shop? That way the last two things can offset all the money you're going to lose on the music store. Just a thought.
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The one retail restaurant that has me baffled right now is Buffalo Wild Wings...WTF?

Had one open up near me in a way overpriced rent strip mall...figured they'd be closed in a few months...
Opening day the parking lot is packed...OK it's opening day... A couple years later damn parking lot is packed every night...Food was at best average and prices high but there's some social draw for the Gen x and y'rs..

Now open up a music store with one of these and you're golden....


BTW this conversation is now just tween us cause the OP ain't been back in weeks :D
 
I suggest combining it with a (legal) cannabis smoking establishment or craft brew pub. Lord knows we tend to make quick purchasing decisions when our minds are appropriately fogged.
 
TAE said:
BTW this conversation is now just tween us cause the OP ain't been back in weeks :D
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Thr OP opened up the store, promptly went out of business, and now got their phone and Internet shut off. :D
Hey, it happens.
 
Great help we were huh?

I honestly wouldn't feel comfortable helping a guy entertain the idea of starting a music store and surely wouldn't invest in it. But then I also have no retail experience and if you are not already really good at your instrument, I am not the one to help teach, so anything I say is irrelevant...

Hope Eric didn't crash and burn in just a week...

Cheers man. Hope to hear from you and wish you the best. :)
 
The only way a neighborhood music shop will work is if they cater to a specific clientele that will drive from all over to go there, or they make their money off of lessons and band equipment.

Since there is already a store that does band equipment, and probably has a relationship with the school system, you would need to go the other route.

It's good that you don't have a guitar center type store near you, but online stores are everywhere and the Amazon culture is growing.

Take it from someone who turned their passion into a business, find a business to get into that will actually profit in this climate. I was doing well for a while, but when the industry changed, the payments for the building and equipment could no longer be supported by the amount and type of business I could get. Since real estate took a dump at the same time, I couldnt even sell or refinance what i had. It was a nightmare that i am finally just digging myself out of now.

The experience actually ruined music for me for about 10 years.
 
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