Crane’s is done

Whitecat

I think some of us have seen this coming but they made it official today... closing their remaining location imminently forever. 

https://www.facebook.com/158965324116281/posts/2261674157178710/

Jonathanthomas83

That's really sad. Days were numbered after Cardiff store went, I think. They still own Caparison though and that's going well, I hear.

Here's a nice story about how the owners went out of their way to get me a discontinued Caparison guitar I'd always wanted...
https://medium.com/fretboard/new-guitar-day-caparison-horus-m3-revive-series-a1842c670dff

stonevibe

Jonathanthomas83 said:

That's really sad. Days were numbered after Cardiff store went, I think. They still own Caparison though and that's going well, I hear.

Here's a nice story about how the owners went out of their way to get me a discontinued Caparison guitar I'd always wanted...
https://medium.com/fretboard/new-guitar-day-caparison-horus-m3-revive-series-a1842c670dff

That guitar looks AWESOME!

Gadget

Very sad

p90fool

That's a shame, I was always treated royally in the Cardiff store, to the extent that I wondered if they'd mistaken me for someone else. 

Top guys. 

John_P

Sad news when any music shop closes. I hope the staff all manage to get sorted with new jobs asap.   

Sassafras

Sad but it must be nearly impossible to compete with the online box shifters.

Blaendulais

p90fool said:

That's a shame, I was always treated royally in the Cardiff store, to the extent that I wondered if they'd mistaken me for someone else. 

Top guys. 

You are the spitting image of James Dean Bradfield thats why!

guitars4you

The vibe I'm picking up within the trade is that many more are going to follow - I know of a few 'established' stores for sale and I can't see why any one would wish to buy them

crunchman

guitars4you said:

The vibe I'm picking up within the trade is that many more are going to follow - I know of a few 'established' stores for sale and I can't see why any one would wish to buy them

Not good.

Why didn't Hammond do something serious about business rates in the budget?

They also need some kind of tax on online transactions.  Probably only needs to be 2% or so.  Combined with a cut in business rates for shops in high street retail locations, it would go a long way to levelling the playing field.

mark123

Are we not all guilty of searching and buying off the internet at the best price we can find ?
If you found a new baja tele for £499 posted or your local shop had one for £549.00 what do you do? support your local shop and lose £50 ?
 In the 80's it was go to your local shop and buy what they had .Its not just guitar shops all local high streets have for sale ,to let ,closing down sale shops ,everyone is shopping on their laptop/phone ,or tablet 
We are all guilty i'm afraid 

guitars4you

crunchman said:

guitars4you said:

The vibe I'm picking up within the trade is that many more are going to follow - I know of a few 'established' stores for sale and I can't see why any one would wish to buy them

Not good.

Why didn't Hammond do something serious about business rates in the budget?

They also need some kind of tax on online transactions.  Probably only needs to be 2% or so.  Combined with a cut in business rates for shops in high street retail locations, it would go a long way to levelling the playing field.

agree but it is a token  gesture - We had a similar chat only 2/3 days ago on FB - Can't find the OP - But it will take more than  2/3 sentences to solve the issue right now, on any forum - In a simple principle you could adjust vat for a shop till v on-line, but good accountants would find a way to beat the system

Yet equally as a very small store, well over 60% of my business is now mail order and this week alone it is nigh on 100% and I hardly think such a business model, of mine, is the failing of the high street

I've been in the trade now for over 40 years and the last 15 years has changed so much - hardly recognisable from what I was taught by my dad and granddad - I spoke to another dealer a few days ago and he expressed thoughts about closing down his brass/woodwind dept, within his store - Not due to lack of turnover but due to the fact that it is only making around 8% - Factor the whole cost of running such a part of the business and it is a non starter - In short £80K profit on a 1 million pound turnover - pay 2/3 staff and nothing left in the kitty

Musicman20

I hate to say it but a hell of a lot of services are struggling as well. I work in law and the salary levels are a joke right now. I'd never advise anyone to train and spend huge amounts on education now.

15 years ago it was booming industry. Now I know of Partners who can't afford to have two kids because it means moving house. Ridiculous.

All music stores have to adopt to the new way of selling otherwise I'm afraid they won't survive :-(

If I could do anything now I'd train in food and drink and run my own place. 

dbphoto

Musicman20 said:

I hate to say it but a hell of a lot of services are struggling as well.  

Aye, that’s 6 of my best photographer clients having told me in the last month alone that they are done and are hanging up their cameras.  All long established and very good.

People want cheap, and they want it now.

TTony

mark123 said:

Are we not all guilty of searching and buying off the internet at the best price we can find ?
If you found a new baja tele for £499 posted or your local shop had one for £549.00 what do you do? support your local shop and lose £50 ?
 In the 80's it was go to your local shop and buy what they had .Its not just guitar shops all local high streets have for sale ,to let ,closing down sale shops ,everyone is shopping on their laptop/phone ,or tablet 
We are all guilty i'm afraid 

Yes, yes, yes.

We all scramble for cheap, cheap, cheap, and bemoan the lack of local shops, and fail to see the irony.

We all argue that stuff should be delivered free, complain about crap delivery drivers, and fail to see why one leads to the other.

You get what you pay for.  You don't get what you don't pay for.  Only then do you realise what you've lost.

Jonathanthomas83

stonevibe said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

That's really sad. Days were numbered after Cardiff store went, I think. They still own Caparison though and that's going well, I hear.

Here's a nice story about how the owners went out of their way to get me a discontinued Caparison guitar I'd always wanted...
https://medium.com/fretboard/new-guitar-day-caparison-horus-m3-revive-series-a1842c670dff

That guitar looks AWESOME!

Thank you, sir! :-)

GuyR

crunchman said:

guitars4you said:

The vibe I'm picking up within the trade is that many more are going to follow - I know of a few 'established' stores for sale and I can't see why any one would wish to buy them

Not good.

Why didn't Hammond do something serious about business rates in the budget?

They also need some kind of tax on online transactions.  Probably only needs to be 2% or so.  Combined with a cut in business rates for shops in high street retail locations, it would go a long way to levelling the playing field.

Business rates don't help, but it's mostly to do with punters using shops as a showroom for the Internet.
Anyone who has checked something out in a shop, liked the item, then bought it cheaply online is part of the problem.

crunchman

GuyR said:

crunchman said:

guitars4you said:

The vibe I'm picking up within the trade is that many more are going to follow - I know of a few 'established' stores for sale and I can't see why any one would wish to buy them

Not good.

Why didn't Hammond do something serious about business rates in the budget?

They also need some kind of tax on online transactions.  Probably only needs to be 2% or so.  Combined with a cut in business rates for shops in high street retail locations, it would go a long way to levelling the playing field.

Business rates don't help, but it's mostly to do with punters using shops as a showroom for the Internet.
Anyone who has checked something out in a shop, liked the item, then bought it cheaply online is part of the problem.

Part of the reason that the shop can't compete with the internet is that the business rates are so high.

The owner of Chandlers told me what the business rates told me what theirs were when they were closing down.  I can't remember the exact figure but I was absolutely shocked by how much it was.  Business rates for a warehouse are a lot less than for a high street shop, and you can make better use of the space.  You can probably fit 5 times as many guitars in the same space in a warehouse situation.  A shop will be paying thousands extra every month compared with an internet box shifter with similar sales.

MikeS

Admittedly, I'm hopeless at google-fu, but any search I've ever made has never brought up Cranes in the results. In fact to be honest I've never once until today come across their site, and what a sad time to eventually find it. And some of their stock photos are absolutely stunning in quality as well. Truly stunning. It's clear I may have been missing out over the years, but that's maybe the story for many more customers. I don't have any knowledge about how search engine results populate, but somethings amiss if a regular online buyer like myself has never even chanced upon them.

HAL9000

mark123 said:

Are we not all guilty of searching and buying off the internet at the best price we can find ?
If you found a new baja tele for £499 posted or your local shop had one for £549.00 what do you do? support your local shop and lose £50 ?
 In the 80's it was go to your local shop and buy what they had .Its not just guitar shops all local high streets have for sale ,to let ,closing down sale shops ,everyone is shopping on their laptop/phone ,or tablet 
We are all guilty i'm afraid 

Certainly guilty when it comes to books, CDs, etc. However with guitars I’ve only ever bought from bricks’n’mortar stores - mainly because two supposedly identical guitars will not feel the same. OK, I know DSR are on my side but buying guitars online will always have an element of luck about it, and I’m happy to pay a bit more to be able to try the actual instrument I’m buying.

i do wonder if bemoaning the closure of high street shops is a bit like complaining about the disappearance of the blacksmith. The world is changing and we shop differently than we used to. The high street won’t disappear but it will change. Our town centre now has plenty of coffee shops, restaurants, nail bars, hairdressers, etc - essentially the things that internet shopping can’t provide. The town centre is still busy; it’s just busy with different things than it was a decade ago.

CarpeDiem

MikeS said:

Admittedly, I'm hopeless at google-fu, but any search I've ever made has never brought up Cranes in the results. In fact to be honest I've never once until today come across their site, and what a sad time to eventually find it. And some of their stock photos are absolutely stunning in quality as well. Truly stunning. It's clear I may have been missing out over the years, but that's maybe the story for many more customers. I don't have any knowledge about how search engine results populate, but somethings amiss if a regular online buyer like myself has never even chanced upon them.

The way that search engine results are populated can be manipulated, and there's an industry devoted to getting their chosen company at the top of the list. Part of the reason is that most people don't look beyond the first page of search results. This is why the EU slapped a large fine on Google. I use DuckDuckGo instead of Google.