Appointments for Guitar Shops?

JezWynd

Tannin said:

It is just another way of doing business. It has advantages and disadvantages. If you don't like it, don't go to that shop. There are lots of other shops. 

I like appointment guitar shopping. Yes, I often just walk in, but where possible I phone ahead and arrange a good time, and even when I don't I try to come in on a rainy Wednesday morning rather than a busy Friday night. This indicates to the retailer that I'm a serious buyer - not just some random tyre-kicker - and worth spending time with, worth taking trouble for (bringing extra guitars down from the storeroom if they seem likely to be of interest, finding a quiet place for me to sit down with them and leaving me there to explore my options properly, stuff like that). I have had great experiences with many different retailers, and a lot of that I put down to respecting their time and working with them so that we can both get a good result. 

Coke ‘n hookers in stock?

downbytheriver

skunkwerx said:

Granted even strings are made to order but, it takes an hour or two for a bowyer to do this.. I keep meaning to buy my own jig and... attempt it myself.. 

go on - a jig a serving tool and the materials are all you really need - you won’t believe how easy it is

Ddigger

randella said:

Cheap sandwiches, mobile top ups, vapes, you're covered. Everything else? Not so much.

Betting shops and nail shops.

If the human race was to die off overnight, any visiting alien archeogists in the future would think we couldn't walk more than 30m without getting our nails done as we make a bet while having a vape in between eating our kebab.

Haych

Ddigger said:

randella said:

Cheap sandwiches, mobile top ups, vapes, you're covered. Everything else? Not so much.

Betting shops and nail shops.

If the human race was to die off overnight, any visiting alien archeogists in the future would think we couldn't walk more than 30m without getting our nails done as we make a bet while having a vape in between eating our kebab.

And popping into a charity shop to buy somebody else’s junk. 

Ddigger

Haych said:

Ddigger said:

randella said:

Cheap sandwiches, mobile top ups, vapes, you're covered. Everything else? Not so much.

Betting shops and nail shops.

If the human race was to die off overnight, any visiting alien archeogists in the future would think we couldn't walk more than 30m without getting our nails done as we make a bet while having a vape in between eating our kebab.

And popping into a charity shop to buy somebody else’s junk. 

Or dropping of your own!

prowla

Ddigger said:

randella said:

Cheap sandwiches, mobile top ups, vapes, you're covered. Everything else? Not so much.

Betting shops and nail shops.

If the human race was to die off overnight, any visiting alien archeogists in the future would think we couldn't walk more than 30m without getting our nails done as we make a bet while having a vape in between eating our kebab.

Turkish barbers. 

guitarjack66

prowla said:

Ddigger said:

randella said:

Cheap sandwiches, mobile top ups, vapes, you're covered. Everything else? Not so much.

Betting shops and nail shops.

If the human race was to die off overnight, any visiting alien archeogists in the future would think we couldn't walk more than 30m without getting our nails done as we make a bet while having a vape in between eating our kebab.

Turkish barbers. 

Whose workers are from everywhere but Turkey.

OilCityPickups

guitarjack66 said:

prowla said:

Ddigger said:

randella said:

Cheap sandwiches, mobile top ups, vapes, you're covered. Everything else? Not so much.

Betting shops and nail shops.

If the human race was to die off overnight, any visiting alien archeogists in the future would think we couldn't walk more than 30m without getting our nails done as we make a bet while having a vape in between eating our kebab.

Turkish barbers. 

Whose workers are from everywhere but Turkey.

I have to admit that pretty much all barbers in our area are continuously empty. We have a lot of shops like that, a milkshake bar that appears never to sell milkshakes etc etc. People wonder how London is the money laundering capital of Europe ... and this is how. Each of those businesses will have a big fat till roll and a full till at the end of the day even though they may have only had a couple of customers. A big window tinted AMD Mercedes will have been parked (illegally) outside for a short while ... and drug and prostitution money will 'legally' pass into the economy. Of course the Merc never gets a ticket, and the Met police never come near those businesses. The Krays may just be a folklore memory now ... but here's the new boss, same as the old boss. 

guitarjack66

OilCityPickups said:

guitarjack66 said:

prowla said:

Ddigger said:

randella said:

Cheap sandwiches, mobile top ups, vapes, you're covered. Everything else? Not so much.

Betting shops and nail shops.

If the human race was to die off overnight, any visiting alien archeogists in the future would think we couldn't walk more than 30m without getting our nails done as we make a bet while having a vape in between eating our kebab.

Turkish barbers. 

Whose workers are from everywhere but Turkey.

I have to admit that pretty much all barbers in our area are continuously empty. We have a lot of shops like that, a milkshake bar that appears never to sell milkshakes etc etc. People wonder how London is the money laundering capital of Europe ... and this is how. Each of those businesses will have a big fat till roll and a full till at the end of the day even though they may have only had a couple of customers. A big window tinted AMD Mercedes will have been parked (illegally) outside for a short while ... and drug and prostitution money will 'legally' pass into the economy. Of course the Merc never gets a ticket, and the Met police never come near those businesses. The Krays may just be a folklore memory now ... but here's the new boss, same as the old boss. 

Yep. We also have car washes (which do pretty well in general,but not to the tune of what is declared,I'm guessing) and also Sunbed shops for laundering illegal cash here in the North West. The Sunbeds have lost their fashionable status nowadays though and it's probably the Hair and Beauty stuff which has replaced it.

fretfinder

Haych said:

Ddigger said:

randella said:

Cheap sandwiches, mobile top ups, vapes, you're covered. Everything else? Not so much.

Betting shops and nail shops.

If the human race was to die off overnight, any visiting alien archeogists in the future would think we couldn't walk more than 30m without getting our nails done as we make a bet while having a vape in between eating our kebab.

And popping into a charity shop to buy somebody else’s junk. 

And having a cup of coffee that costs more than three quid.

guitarjack66

While it may be a great idea it doesn't do much to stop increasing internet sales though. The opposite in fact. As the  majority of guitarists are likely male(?) and we just love shopping! We will be more likely to just buy online,in my view. I already do this but I reckon the undecideds will just go online more.

bgmartinsbridge

Be interested to know the returns rates for online guitar sales.

Appreciate ASOS is clothes sales but their returns rates were huge (wear the clothes out once and return them or they don't fit). 

A guitar is similar in that the neck can be a mm out and feel awful, the weight can be out by a couple of ounces, the balance can be off, the colour and relic etc etc. 

That said, maybe that's offset by staffing cost reduction and reducing tyre kickers. 


As an aside I went for a job selling motorbikes decades ago. The owner of the franchise said the tyre kickers and spotty youths were the his future bread and butter - and he absolutely wanted them there every Saturday. 

Snags

Parker said:

I am still trying to formulate the reasoning behind the appointment-only change. It could be one or a mix of the following:

Why? I mean, seriously, why?

It's been pointed out twice already in this thread that Peach have previously posted on here, despite all the shit they get from entitled inchbrows, why they took the decision they did. Roland even linked to the relevant post.

I mean, I get it can be fun to speculate sometimes, but when you have the actual answers in front of your nose, it's a bit pointless. And given they've been running this way since Covid with no apparent signs of going bust just yet, it obviously does work for them.

There's even a video on their website that explains the decision: if you've got 10 minutes to spare.

Peach's opening policy is as much as a self-parody theme on this place as Rob Chapman being the cuddly mockable Satan, or Anderton's being mis-spelt Anderson's, or Emp buying a car, or people throwing hissy fits in Off Topic after posting execrable flamebait and getting butthurt when it all kicks off.

I know we have a rising age demographic, but given how often it comes up, I'm concerned that we might need block bookings at a dementia assessment centre.

OilCityPickups

Snags said:

Parker said:

I am still trying to formulate the reasoning behind the appointment-only change. It could be one or a mix of the following:

Why? I mean, seriously, why?

It's been pointed out twice already in this thread that Peach have previously posted on here, despite all the shit they get from entitled inchbrows, why they took the decision they did. Roland even linked to the relevant post.

I mean, I get it can be fun to speculate sometimes, but when you have the actual answers in front of your nose, it's a bit pointless. And given they've been running this way since Covid with no apparent signs of going bust just yet, it obviously does work for them.

There's even a video on their website that explains the decision: if you've got 10 minutes to spare.

Peach's opening policy is as much as a self-parody theme on this place as Rob Chapman being the cuddly mockable Satan, or Anderton's being mis-spelt Anderson's, or Emp buying a car, or people throwing hissy fits in Off Topic after posting execrable flamebait and getting butthurt when it all kicks off.

I know we have a rising age demographic, but given how often it comes up, I'm concerned that we might need block bookings at a dementia assessment centre.

Have a wiz

EricTheWeary

bgmartinsbridge said:

As an aside I went for a job selling motorbikes decades ago. The owner of the franchise said the tyre kickers and spotty youths were the his future bread and butter - and he absolutely wanted them there every Saturday. 

I think that was the model for guitar shops as well, packet of strings now, first strat in a year, cables, pedals for life…just isn’t anymore. 

elstoof

People are much more mobile these days, those spotty Saturday morning tyre kickers probably won’t live local by the time they’re in the big leagues. The world’s changing folks

randella

EricTheWeary said:

bgmartinsbridge said:

As an aside I went for a job selling motorbikes decades ago. The owner of the franchise said the tyre kickers and spotty youths were the his future bread and butter - and he absolutely wanted them there every Saturday. 

I think that was the model for guitar shops as well, packet of strings now, first strat in a year, cables, pedals for life…just isn’t anymore. 

Aye, and it worked well to be fair. The amount of mine and my father's money that went one way over the counter at Kingfisher in Fleet doesn't bear thinking about!

It's so much more fragmented now though. Strings off the internet, guitars too if you're not picky. I bought an amp recently from Johnny Roadhouse in Manchester - it was fresher's week and they were doing a brisk trade (for those not familiar with the city, it has an exceptionally busy student corridor down Oxford Rd. and JR is right bang at the top of it). Nice to see kids walking out the door with guitars and kit in their hands.

Again though, those studes aren't going to stick around and I'm going to take a punt it was a whole lot of passing trade. Finding something that works in physical retail must be a pain in the arse these days, so this appointment carry-on must have been like striking oil for Peach and I can't see a reason they should stop (IMO of course )