Music Shops that don't do the basics for drummers

mikyok

Platinum Member
I was in Birmingham on Saturday for something totally un drum related and on the way back to the train station I saw a fairly big music shop (Fair Deal if you know Brum) and thought I'll grab a snare head for the New Years gig, to my amazement they had no coated heads 13" of 14".

I'm no salesman but if you had a music shop that sold drums you'd stock lots of heads and lots of sticks, the little shop I used to go to years ago made a killing from heads and sticks, Saturdays were a conveyer belt of drummers. It's like a guitar shop not having strings.

The crazy thing is this isn't the first time it's happened to me, you see expensive kits that nobody can afford but things that a gigging musician needs aren't there and it's not worth ordering online. Anyone else have this problem?
 
My closest music shop is full of guitars, amps and drums kits. Went to get a pair of 5A sticks - not one pair in stock, of any brand. Heaps of 2B's and bigger, but zero 5A's. I mentioned this to the guy behind the counter - he didn't seem to care.
 
I'm in Plymouth - between the two small music stores here I can find the basics - a selection of sticks and snare heads only, but the selection is very limited. If I need to change a set of tom heads - forget it. No cymbals. No hardware. I've seen two drumsets on display in the last 5 years (both entry level - and displayed just before Christmas!) and a drum book once!

I'm sure you get the picture. Admittedly Plymouth isn't the biggest city in the UK and it is surrounded by moorland and sea, but I thought Birmingham would be a lot better as it is the second largest populated place in the UK, but obviously a special journey would be disappointing....

I would like to support local stores, but unfortunately online sales are the only realistic option for me. I just make sure I have spare everything available - relying on the local music shops in Devon and Cornwall isn't an option if I actually NEED something, but I can find 5A sticks - and maybe a Coated Ambo snare head - trouble is I don't use either of them....
 
Most music shops are poor. PMT in Birmingham has a big drum dept and stock Vick Firth sticks but no 8D's, my stick of choice, and no 5B's that I thought were the most used. "I can order them for you" I was told. I can get them off the net If I want to order, I replied. Its a gigantic barn of a place, but nowhere dedicated to try out a kit or cymbals If you are looking to spend big money and take some time.

I think I was spoiled by the Drum Centre and the Drum shop in Newcastle and Washington. Real drum shops.
 
Yeah we have a Dawsons in the town we live in and it's shocking for drummers.

I think they have some Moongel, a very small selection of no brand drumsticks, a cowbell and some silencer pads and maybe a couple sizes of Remo Pinstripes. I normally go in there for a chuckle when I'm in town.

I have raised the issue with Remo Ambassadors with them before (in that it might be a good idea to get some Remo or Evans snare heads in stock) but they have flatly told me on each occasions that they are "special order" and can’t seem the whole concept of maybe carrying heads in stock for snare drums.
 
It makes no sense. Having worked in MI retail, I can tell you that drum accessories are very high margin products and meeting internet prices is no problem. Most stores make their profits on accessories, not on instruments. I'd chalk it up to ignorance of what drummers and other musicians really need. You'd be surprised how many stores are managed and even owned by non musicians.

GeeDeeEmm
 
Consumables like sticks and heads are the one area where music shops can beat the online dealers. Nobody wants to pay a delivery charge for just one pair of sticks, and nobody is going wait days/weeks for their new head to arrive if they've got a gig tonight.

The advantage of having a local bricks-and-mortar shop is that you can get these things immediately. If the shop has to order in what you need, you can just as well just order the item yourself. The owners are too quick to blame the internet for their poor sales, but if the shop is not interested in doing business then they only have themselves to blame.
 
Most music shops are poor. PMT in Birmingham has a big drum dept and stock Vick Firth sticks but no 8D's, my stick of choice, and no 5B's that I thought were the most used. "I can order them for you" I was told. I can get them off the net If I want to order, I replied. Its a gigantic barn of a place, but nowhere dedicated to try out a kit or cymbals If you are looking to spend big money and take some time.

I think I was spoiled by the Drum Centre and the Drum shop in Newcastle and Washington. Real drum shops.

Brum Drum used to be the Mecca of drum shops here but they got too big and went bump a few years back. PMT is the best in the West Midlands at the moment. I'm fortunate that I don't buy sticks from shops anymore I'd recommend Pellwood to anyone in the UK 4 pairs of Hickory stick for £15 and they're as good as any VF/Pro Mark.

I brought my K's from there and tried them out in the shop, don't think they were too happy when the phone went but balls to em they made £550 off me that day and I got some tasty dustbin lids!

I was definitely spoilt by the local drum shop in Wolverhampton call Drum Attic is was above an Antiques shop and was ran by working drummers and they always kept heads fully stocked and they had a top drawer 2nd hand section. One of the owners had endorsements so we used to get thing like Attack Heads which I haven't seen here since and Meinls which all the big shops avoid like the plague because like Sonor there trade prices aren't that cheap.

The really tragic bit is online retail killed the shops and a working musician always needs the shops as other people have rightly mentioned.
 
It must be true regarding margins on instruments. My local music shop is tiny and mainly guitars but If you want to buy anything to order he will price match the web stores. He even goes on the internet while you are there and checks the current best price. Sadly he stocks Pro Mark sticks and Evans heads, both not my choice but hey, you cant have everything.
 
It must be true regarding margins on instruments. My local music shop is tiny and mainly guitars but If you want to buy anything to order he will price match the web stores. He even goes on the internet while you are there and checks the current best price. Sadly he stocks Pro Mark sticks and Evans heads, both not my choice but hey, you cant have everything.

My FLMS is an all-around place - everything from pro-level drum stuff to stage lighting - and the chaps there do the same thing. I'm to the point I don't bother going online anymore except to see what things are going for. I know they'll come in a few % points below the big online retailers anyway, because they always do. And I trust them, because I'm on a first-name basis with them.

I guess I'm lucky.

I'm not very impressed with their cymbal selection, to be perfectly honest. But they have a good selection of the Big Three. I'll tell you this: If I needed a full pro-level touring setup, I could walk in there, stroke a check, and come out with it. From pedals to heads.
 
I'm not sure about the UK, but 2 things happened here in the US that killed most of the music stores here.

1. The big box stores (guitar center, et cetera) expanded their presence across the country and had a wider selection of inventory, often for cheaper than the local stores could offer

2. People started buying online from even bigger retailers (amazon) and stopped going to the big music stores, or people sought out specialty stores either online or brick and mortar.

I know a great deal of people (including myself) who go to specialty stores now for all of their instruments, and ignore the big retailers. I never felt well-served by music stores. The local stores usually had a few pairs of rock sticks (7A and 5A), and maybe some concert sticks (2B). But they never had any marching sticks or any sticks for jazz. The same with the kits and cymbals, it's all geared towards rock/pop. Even the big box companies like GC never carry anything that would interest me.

Luckily, I found a niche drum site, that has a wide variety of drum gear. The only problem with buying online, is i can't really sample something before I buy it... Sticks aren't such a big deal, as they are only $8, but I don't want to buy a ride cymbal only to find out I don't like it.

It's not just music stores, many retailers are feeling the pinch here in the US. It's either you're a big online retailer with super cheap prices, or you're a niche corner store (or web site) that specializes in one thing. There isn't anything in the middle anymore.
 
North Idaho has a pretty sparse selection of music stores. I haven't bought a drum head locally in maybe a decade. They almost never have what I want, and charge at least twice what online retailers charge.

I'd PREFER to shop locally, but it isn't feasible here.
 
At one time my Dad owned a very small Mom and Pop grocery store.
If two people asked for an item he did not have he would buy some of that item to sell.
If he had some things that were not selling, he would stop buying those items.

Seems that this simple logic has disappeared.


.
 
... I trust them, because I'm on a first-name basis with them.

I guess I'm lucky.
...

It's a two way street.

Online retailing has made it very easy to compare prices for anything you might want to buy. The side effect is that the ease of price comparison has overshadowed everything else, to the extent that an awful lot of people want everything as cheap as they can get it.

It has always been the case in business that whatever you're selling, somebody can sell the same thing for a bit less. The internet has helped fuel a race to the bottom, where price is the only variable anybody cares about.

Very few people seem to care about maintaining a relationship with a specialty store. But when you do, lo and behold, you rediscover things like service and trust. Nobody wants to be shafted, but buying drum heads from somebody who understands what you are about, knows their product range and can make recommendations (without first googling for info) is a much more satisfying experience than finding the Amazon retailer who's 20c cheaper than everybody else.
 
I was in Birmingham on Saturday for something totally un drum related and on the way back to the train station I saw a fairly big music shop (Fair Deal if you know Brum) and thought I'll grab a snare head for the New Years gig, to my amazement they had no coated heads 13" of 14".

I'm no salesman but if you had a music shop that sold drums you'd stock lots of heads and lots of sticks, the little shop I used to go to years ago made a killing from heads and sticks, Saturdays were a conveyer belt of drummers. It's like a guitar shop not having strings.

The crazy thing is this isn't the first time it's happened to me, you see expensive kits that nobody can afford but things that a gigging musician needs aren't there and it's not worth ordering online. Anyone else have this problem?

Yep, a good shop owner knows that every kid just wants to go in and play the fancy kits, Oh yeah, and buy a pair of drum sticks.
 
I'm spoiled. We have a local 3 store chain in the Hudson Valley, NY - Alto Music - that does a really great job stocking the consumables. Every stick, head, and string under the sun.
 
Had this experience today in Mongsfield. Wanted a snare skin (Evans HD Dry) Not even one of any kind in stock. Said, I can get you one in the new year........Forget it! Useless.
 
Heck I want to buy a drumhead from Amazon just to watch one of those drones deliver it.
 
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