Red Dog Music closing their Leeds shop

Skipped

Didn't we have a thread last year suggesting that PMT may no longer stock Gibson?

That does not seem to have happened. (Good).

If Leeds (or Manchester) only had two Gibson dealers, and that then became only one Gibson dealer, I would see that as unhealthy.

I would then want to know a few things about the one remaining dealer.

Do they offer part exchange/trade in to the Pro Musician who may be "skint"?

If they have never......ever......posted a used guitar on their website, does that suggest that they  somehow have a strategy which avoids trade-ins?

Are they musician friendly, with no guitars locked in glass cases?

Whitecat

Skipped said:

Didn't we have a thread last year suggesting that PMT may no longer stock Gibson?

That does not seem to have happened. (Good).

If Leeds (or Manchester) only had two Gibson dealers, and that then became only one Gibson dealer, I would see that as unhealthy.

I would then want to know a few things about the one remaining dealer.

Do they offer part exchange/trade in to the Pro Musician who may be "skint"?

If they have never......ever......posted a used guitar on their website, does that suggest that they  somehow have a strategy which avoids trade-ins?

Are they musician friendly, with no guitars locked in glass cases?

PMT did drop Gibson for a while. Looks like they used the stunt as leverage to get back in, by the looks of it, which seems to be a strong strategy if you're a big player (Thomann did same). No doubt they got better terms.

symphonytech

Moominpapa said:

Not to be a dick but Leeds is a major metropolitan area in Yorkshire, must have one of the highest concentrations of students relative to city size anywhere in England and is home to Leeds College of Music. If you cant  keep a guitar shop going in that market then I'm sorry but you're doing something wrong.

I assume you're doing a great job of running a guitar shop in Leeds then eh?

If you think that all you need nowadays is a huge collection of students on your doorstep then you have misunderstood the fundamental problems undermining our industry.

symphonytech

AlexO said:

Hattigol said:

My problem is that I went to Chicago Music Exchange last year. It has ruined all other guitar shops for me.
What, a red Gibson 335? Yeah, there are about 30 over there.
Jazzmaster? About 10.
Les Paul? Ooooooh just about 50.

Heaven.

Guitar shops in general in America piss all
over anything we have here.
As someone who owns a retail business it still absolutely blows my mind that guitar stores can't train the staff to even say hello or smile at customers.

America have one thing we don't have - MAP pricing legislation.

The result is a sustainable business model.

In the UK, prices are depressed by lowest-common denominator economics. The result? Less sustainability, support and investment, with depressed pay and conditions.

Everyone expecting every dealer to be the cheapest price on every product has had a terrible effect on the industry over the last ten years.

Moominpapa

symphonytech said:

Moominpapa said:

Not to be a dick but Leeds is a major metropolitan area in Yorkshire, must have one of the highest concentrations of students relative to city size anywhere in England and is home to Leeds College of Music. If you cant  keep a guitar shop going in that market then I'm sorry but you're doing something wrong.

I assume you're doing a great job of running a guitar shop in Leeds then eh?

If you think that all you need nowadays is a huge collection of students on your doorstep then you have misunderstood the fundamental problems undermining our industry.

On reflection I agree with you. I had forgotten I'd commented on this thread, but stumbling across it just now I thought '@symphonytech  is right - that was a stupid thing to say'.

Simon_M

Moominpapa said:

symphonytech said:

Moominpapa said:

Not to be a dick but Leeds is a major metropolitan area in Yorkshire, must have one of the highest concentrations of students relative to city size anywhere in England and is home to Leeds College of Music. If you cant  keep a guitar shop going in that market then I'm sorry but you're doing something wrong.

I assume you're doing a great job of running a guitar shop in Leeds then eh?

If you think that all you need nowadays is a huge collection of students on your doorstep then you have misunderstood the fundamental problems undermining our industry.

On reflection I agree with you. I had forgotten I'd commented on this thread, but stumbling across it just now I thought '@symphonytech  is right - that was a stupid thing to say'.

Good job he turned up 7 months later to put you right then!

Moominpapa

Simon_M said:

Good job he turned up 7 months later to put you right then!

My sins always catch up with me in the end.