Brick & Mortar Music Stores

djeffers78

I grew up in Cheviot

ACB

There are many reasons Rayburn's folded.

Brick and Mortar shops (like mine) can survive. It's probably just a lot more challenging in this Amazon world. We are gonna keep fightin' at it!

flugelgirl

There’s definitely a place for both online and brick and mortar. A few brick and mortar have closed in this area due to ever-increasing rent, unfortunately. While we are not a brick and mortar, we do offer appointments to play test and pickup for local customers, but we can’t fill that need for the emergency bottle of valve oil or reed before the concert and don’t provide rentals. We only provide repair to customers who have purchased their instrument from us - with the backlog waiting for repair before sale, we just don’t have time for it. We might be online, but are still a small business, with 3 techs, 2 office personnel, 1 in shipping, a photographer, and a part time kid who helps wherever needed, and of course the boss who still does plenty of sales and customer communication, and still will help pull horns for shipping. It’s a super fun family to be a part of, and a great addition to brick and mortar but not a replacement for it.

Kehaulani

That was a fun read, flugelgirl. I was surprised that, with all of the direct sales and internet business, you have only one person doing the shipping. Man, s/he must be wasted at the end of the day, LOL.

I'm curious. Is there a distribution between brass, woodwinds and misc. repair personnel or do all three of you mix it up just depending on what type instrument comes up next?

flugelgirl

@Kehaulani I do brass only, Carlo does woodwinds only, and our head tech Brad mixes it up, but does all the flute overhauls. Carlo will occasionally help me with an issue he might have more experience with, but there are things he isn’t trained for that I am and vice versa. I do guitars as well, but we have only had one come in since I have been there so most of my guitar work is done at home.

administrator

@ACB said in Brick & Mortar Music Stores:

@administrator

There are many reasons Rayburn's folded.

Brick and Mortar shops (like mine) can survive. It's probably just a lot more challenging in this Amazon world. We are gonna keep fightin' at it!

Yes, I suspect there are. It seems that stores who can adapt, can survive!