What happened to Music Stores?
Music stores used to litter the towns, but now they are rare, and the majors are soulless corporate entities that suck
When I was in my formative years, my late teens and early twenties, when I started playing guitar, I lived within easy bicycling distance of at least 6 small, independent music stores.
I would spend literally hours browsing the wares, pulling guitars off the wall, plugging into the demo amps, or sitting on a stool in the acoustic room, or chatting with the staff that I became friends with. I was counting my pennies, and always chasing a sound, a tone, an image.
This was in the South SF Bay Area, I lived in wes San Jose, and I had small shops in strip malls all around. And there were two larger ones, Guitar Showcase, and pre-franchise Guitar Center.
Today, there are still some independent shops, but they are rinky-dink compared to what there used to be. Guitar Showcase was the premium place that I used to hang out at, but it is a smaller physical shop, with a larger Reverb presence.
Guitar Center's went nationwide and there are three of them nearby, all of them suck.
My fond memories of spending literally hours walking around, picking guitars off the wall, plugging them in, and playing.
Fenders, Gibsons, Jacksons, Gretch's, Ibanez's and others, and there was always some hot rodded amps to jack into. As long as you didn't play Stairway to Heaven, the sales staff would let you wail.
Of course, the selections were awesome, and my budget was tiny, so I did a lot of dreaming. Purchases were rare, and almost always a compromise to fit my budget, and to get that sound I was chasing.
Alas, now I can afford pretty much anything I want (even if I can't justify it with my ability) and I can't find local shops with the good stuff in stock, so I have to rely on Reverb and the big national etailers, buying before I can actually lay my hands on the actual item.
Fortunately, I have been lucky, the last guitar I bought, an Ernie Ball Music Man Sabre, slightly used, is an absolute JOY to play. That was the most I have ever spent on an electric guitar ($2,700 + shipping) but it really plays like a top shelf instrument.
And the three Harley-Bentons that came from Thomann in Germany have been outstanding, all costing between $340 and $400.
And the lighty used (less than a week) Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas I bought from a shop in Minnesota is a dream.
Yet, my local shop when I lived in Tucson, AZ, Guitars Etc., had the Tom Anderson Guitarworks on the wall that was a good deal in 2003 when I bought it, again, slighly used, and $1,000 off list price.
I miss that, the familiar faces, the staff that was friendly (and all musicians themselves), the brands they specialized in. It was comforting.
Guitar Center today is a cold, impersonal place, staffed with people who often aren't very attached to the instruments and the music.
I wrote about this in 2023, when I went to a local music store that mostly specialized in school band instruments with a few guitars and other instruments in stock.
Geoff Anderson
