Oh, great... Best Buy!

[Predator1]

The Best Buy by me has had this store in a store for at least the past year. I found it very uninspiring. There are usaully a couple of jr. high kids banging the guitars into each other. They stock a couple of Les pauls a couple of strats and the Peavey stuff. Very small operation. I think I bought a few picks once.

[jacksoncsplayer]

Not really, all the manufacturers have MAP pricing and Best Buy will have to adhere to that.

Matt I agree on that. We have 2 independant stores here, and they both charge full retail on most items because they have no competition ($7.95 for a pack of strings) We got a Best Buy last year so this will be interesting. All I want is fair pricing.

[Newc]

Use the local BB for the in-hand demo, then buy online from a JCF dealer

[hippietim]

This could put a lot of music stores out of business, just like WalMart has put many independent stores out by doing something similar.

Big deal. Nobody cares. You shop at WalMart right?

[JACKSONFREAK]

well as a GC employee who has checked out the BB in Downers grove. I find it typical of a big box trying to adapt to compete broad scale. BB has American STD Strats Epi LPs and SGs, Also Gibson Robot LP and SG. Marshall JVM410 full stack. Line 6 Bogner Full stack. Fender hot rod amps DW drums, and pacific drums, Zildjian cymbals and sticks, Newmark DJ stuff, no lighting tho. (yet) Roland amps (mostly the cube types. and the full line of boss effects and line 6 effects. Altho there displayis confusing as hell i couldnt figure it out to plug in to the pedals. Cords every were and non of them did anything. lol The salesmen or clerks all dais hi but didnt go out of thier way to help me. Or even to look up from thier computer to see if i needed help. Tehy also have Peavey Windsor half stack, Peavey Fender and squier bass's and guitars as well. Roland and casi keyboards, Plus shure mics, All of GC's biggest selling items/lines are there. Plus they have some spare parts like pickguards and switches etc.. Plus strings and picks and the like. It's in the front corner of the store just past the geeksquad counter. (which should be great for those geeks trying to explain some technical stuff to a customer. lol There is no doors on the main floor of the music inst dept. But there is doors for the acoustic room and the drum room as well as the "Demo Room" where the aforementioned stacks are kept. All plugged in and ready to go. With an Amer std strat a zakk wylde epi and a Jazz bass with a peavey bass amp. Its a small room but enough for 2 or 3 kids to make some noise in for a while. Of course the Zakk ipicke up had action set to the astrosphere. It was so high io thought the bridge was gonna pop of its studs. I didnt touch the posts. Why help the competition. And they have the ladder i alwasy thiught GC should have for the guitar wall. The rolling kind that is permanently attached to the wall. just slid it back and forth. Altho im sure customers will climb the ladder trying to get guitars down. Then they may reassess that ladder. ANyway. It's a nice looking nook in the store but you can hear the wankers through out the whole store. Doors would deffinately help. And a helpfull staff would be nice too. Besides the usual hard to find BB sales rep er clerk. Its non commissioned sales so they have no motivation it apears. Wel i may go back and do some inquiring and investigatin when i have more time.
Gil

[Newc]

Big deal. Nobody cares. You shop at WalMart right?

Yes, WalMart puts Americans out of work by supporting foreign economies. Actually, the heads of those companies that move the factories out of America so they can be billionaires and not have to pay a liveable/fair wage or provide a quality product at a low price put Americans out of work just as much as WalMart.

Retailers have to buy what's available, which in turn means consumers have to buy what's available at the retailer.
They know the community they service and who has money to burn. I'm sure in bigger cities there's more money to throw away on Calvin Klein and other name-brand fashions that are made in the same Chinese sweatshops as the stuff WalMart carries, but not in farming communities like mine.

[Mikernaut2]

Weird that Best Buy is going this route. But I still end up buying online anyways because none of these chain stores carry anything of interest. I cant even remember the last time I saw a USA select in person at a shop.

Funny thing is I saw more quality guitars when I lived in Canada for a few years then here in the States. Their was actually some decent stores to go gear looking at.

[phill_up]

But I still end up buying online anyways because none of these chain stores carry anything of interest. I cant even remember the last time I saw a USA select in person at a shop.

.

I hear you! The Jacksons here start from the Indian and Korean to the Japanese. There are no USA models to try out. There is a hell of a market for Les Pauls, Ibanez, Fender Strats. I bought a USA select off Ebay after the manager of GC found his there also. it just seems like there would be more of a market for them.

Damn You Kurt Cobain!

[chrisolson]

We have one about 5 miles from me. It was really nothing too special, and there's a GC across the parking lot from it. The stuff they have is the usual run-of-the mill Fender/Epi/Peavey/Marshall/L6/Vox/Boss stuff (and a couple Gibsons) that you can get anywhere.

I walked in, spent about 5 minutes looking around, and wandered out. I check in when I stop to pick up other things, but I don't think I'd ever need anything they carry that I can't get somewhere else.

[Spivonious]

Yes, WalMart puts Americans out of work by supporting foreign economies. Actually, the heads of those companies that move the factories out of America so they can be billionaires and not have to pay a liveable/fair wage or provide a quality product at a low price put Americans out of work just as much as WalMart.

Retailers have to buy what's available, which in turn means consumers have to buy what's available at the retailer.
They know the community they service and who has money to burn. I'm sure in bigger cities there's more money to throw away on Calvin Klein and other name-brand fashions that are made in the same Chinese sweatshops as the stuff WalMart carries, but not in farming communities like mine.

Show me an American company that doesn't farm work out to other countries. It does not exist.

[Shawn Lutz]

Yes, WalMart puts Americans out of work by supporting foreign economies. Actually, the heads of those companies that move the factories out of America so they can be billionaires and not have to pay a liveable/fair wage or provide a quality product at a low price put Americans out of work just as much as WalMart.

Retailers have to buy what's available, which in turn means consumers have to buy what's available at the retailer.
They know the community they service and who has money to burn. I'm sure in bigger cities there's more money to throw away on Calvin Klein and other name-brand fashions that are made in the same Chinese sweatshops as the stuff WalMart carries, but not in farming communities like mine.

here we go again anti-wal-mart...answer the question. Do you ever shop there or go pay more for products elsewhere?

[hippietim]

Do you ever shop there or go pay more for products elsewhere?

I guess I must pay more for products elsewhere. I hate going to Walmart. Even if you ignore all the made in China stuff, Walmarts are horrible stores. Shit is misplaced, they have no depth in any of their product lines (they only have the stuff that they can dump quickly), sales staff is poorly trained, cashiers are poorly trained, the stores are usually dirty, the lines are long. Walmart just sucks entirely.

If Walmart were a nation, it would be the 7th (8th?) largest importer of Chinese goods. All by themselves they import more cheap slave labor made shit than all but a handful of nations.

There are volumes to write about why Walmart sucks. They treat employees poorly, poor healthcare options, women are underrepresented in management, they have many questionable tax avoidance practices, etc. The list goes on.

Walmart can kiss my ass.

[hippietim]

Show me an American company that doesn't farm work out to other countries. It does not exist.

Thanks for that information - that makes everything OK!

[lerxstcat]

Wal-Mart is fulfiling American demand for cheap products. If it wasn't Wal-Mart it'd be Price-Mart or Cheapass-Mart. Consumers make the stores successful, not the other way around.

My drummer's girlfriend has worked at Wal-Mart for 25 years. Sure it's got its pros and cons, but she owns a house and has a pretty good retirement plan of her own set up. She doesn't represent the transient employees on the floor who make up most employees. She dug in and applied herself and has financial security because of her job at Wal-Mart.

If you just need something to hate, knock yourself out. But mom and pop stores are failing because YOU, the consumer, stopped shopping there. Blame yourself, hate yourself, or accept that times change and so do conditions.

Those mom and pop places pretty much paid their employees minimum wage and gave them no benefits too. That's why their employees bolted for Wal-Mart when it hit town. The mom and pop stores are not all Kum-bi-ya.

[Shawn Lutz]

I guess I must pay more for products elsewhere. I hate going to Walmart. Even if you ignore all the made in China stuff, Walmarts are horrible stores. Shit is misplaced, they have no depth in any of their product lines (they only have the stuff that they can dump quickly), sales staff is poorly trained, cashiers are poorly trained, the stores are usually dirty, the lines are long. Walmart just sucks entirely.

If Walmart were a nation, it would be the 7th (8th?) largest importer of Chinese goods. All by themselves they import more cheap slave labor made shit than all but a handful of nations.

There are volumes to write about why Walmart sucks. They treat employees poorly, poor healthcare options, women are underrepresented in management, they have many questionable tax avoidance practices, etc. The list goes on.

Walmart can kiss my ass.

that was a question for Newc not you Tim. Since you answered it I'll go under the assumption that you are unlike the average joe consumer. Wal-mart is a success because they save the average consumers mney who have little liquid cash for walls of guitars and amps. I live in a town that has a big Super Wal-mart and a little neighborhood wal-mart (grocery store) and although I dont do the shopping my wife goes to both. If I can save cash on cleaning products, food, paper towels, trash bags, vitamins, toliletries etc why not go to wal-mart? They have everything I could need...about the only thing I dont buy there is clothes or shoes...I get my Nikes from other places who get better deals form the Indoneisian sweat shops:ROTF:

People go to Wal-mart because they save them money, when you can asave money where does it matter where you get you made in china product from?