mellanslag
Junior Member
I get all my drum related things at http://www.slagverkskompaniet.se/ , It´s a great store that can fix the most that i want, it haves good prices to and nice staff.
If it's something like sticks, skins, hardware/DVDs etc then I will just buy them here but when I'm looking at a snare/kit/cymbal I'll def be checking out eBay.
It's too bad that some moms-and-pops aren't finding a niche as the world changes, but that's just how economies change and grow.
To me it's the absolute opposite. To me, a cymbal or a drum must be checked out before bying it!
I only shop at Dale's Drum Shop in Harrisburg PA. In fact, I need to run up there today or tomorrow and buy a new throne with Xmas money.
Well it's the higher priced items that you save more $$$ when you shop online, but I will try them in stores if I don't know what to expect.
I won't support you solely because you're a Mom and Pop. I want a good selection at a good price, and fast. If they could provide that and be competitive, then yea they would get my business first. But the stores around me are not all that. Business is business.
I use local music stores whenever possible. I am a local business and I rely on local people by and large to earn my living.
I do buy and sell on eBay, big boxes and online. I don't like that it takes music stores so long to order stuff. But I always give local merchants a fair shot at my business.
The smart shops have always found that niche by focusing on the areas that online merchants and box stores can't or won't, such as repairs, lessons, carrying niche brands, etc. Anyone can sell a DW9000 or Remo Ambassador. That doesn't make those vendors necessarily desirable, unless they also have the lowest price. Trying to save a buck is nothing new.
The shops that survive do so for good reason: they've adpated. So, they deserve a chance at our business. Not as a reward for hanging in there, but as a probable benefit to us.
I go out of my way to do business with small shops, because I save money that way. But, I also understand that in many areas, there just aren't as many options as I have living in a huge metro area. If those shops can't rise to the occasion, then unfortunately they'll go out of business, too. The sad part is, from time to time, people will wish there was a local shop to get something now or get some advice or service... and they'll be gone.
Bermuda
We're all local to somewhere. However, this is a different era...the internet erases borders and greatly eases many logistical challenges. I run a local business too, yet I'm not limited to local customers, thanks to technology. This is the reality that small, local businesses need to adapt to. Innovate or go extinct, in the information age.
We have two local music shops, that I know of. Both of them (mostly) rely upon school sales and rentals and tend to treat every other type of customer as an afterthought at best...a major inconvenience at worst. After giving them both the opportunity to earn my buck, I quit trying. Guitar Center just does it better and the staff they've kept over the past couple of years has been a big improvement. If GC doesn't have it...I can find it in seconds online, and usually get free shipping or some sort of discount.
It's pretty simple really. When they stop charging 2 to 3 times the US price for the same piece of equipment, they'll get all the support I can muster.
Until then, I owe it to my family to save every penny I can. You wanna pay top dollar for the same item, that's your bag. Me?.....the cash is better off in my pocket and I won't apologise for ensuring that it is. It's not a matter of not wanting to, more a matter of music stores in Oz being commercially unviable for anything outside of heads, sticks and other smaller items.