Sam Ash closing 17 of 43 stores

[lowrider]

SA will be closing 17 or 18 of their 43 in the coming months citing online competition.

https://www.newsday.com/business/sam...ation-bexns29y

'The Hicksville-based chain of 43 stores will close 17 or 18 of them, including one in Huntington Station, in 2024, as the retailer is commemorating its 100th anniversary. The Huntington Station location will close March 30. ''

'''“The world is moving online. It’s very unfortunate. We’re still going to have our footprint. We’re still going to keep our stronger stores but, unfortunately, we can’t have these … stores that are in close proximity to other stores,” said Ash, a great-grandson of the retailer’s founder.''

SA in Huntington is there closest store to me. I've talked to them about buying but they've never been good with price for me. A friend of mine is always buying and trading with therm.

Music Zoo, just a couple of miles away, never opened their showroom after covid.

It's a shame because their salespeople at Huntington have been there for a long time, but I guess all good things have to come to an end sometime.

[egordon99]

Yep, big news here as the one in King of Prussia is closing. Purchased many guitars over the years and I had a close relationship with the acoustic salespeople.

I went on Saturday, and it was very slim pickings and they were only offering 10% off.

They did have a great D-41 though.

The one from my childhood in Edison, NJ is also closing.

[Hogs150]

That sucks. the Huntington store is across the street from a large mall. when my wife and I go shopping I usually spend an hour or so there checking out acoustics. no one there ever bothers you " pushing a sale". I'll miss it.

[Bob from Brooklyn]

I don’t suppose this bodes well for the Cherry Hill location

[Ralph124C41]

Yeah that news broke some time ago. I've never even seen a Sam Ash store. I did buy an electric guitar from the company several years ago and I got a great price and great customer service.

[mr. beaumont]

A bummer. We used to have a Sam Ash and a Guitar Center about 4 blocks apart around here. I always preferred Sam Ash...

[sinistral]

The White Plains store (#6 in the chain) is staying open. A lot of inventory from the Queens and Manhattan locations is moving there and to other local stores. It’s sad that Sam Ash will no longer have a megastore in Manhattan—the store on 48th St was colossal. Andy, the top salesman in the acoustic room in the NYC store is moving to a store in NJ, so I know that they are trying to relocate at least some of their employees. At the end of the day, rent is a killer. I suspect that the rent in Huntington is a lot higher than in White Plains. It’s definitely a family-owned business—I’ve dealt with Max Ash in the NYC store on a couple of occasions. I wish them well.

Regarding The Music Zoo, I’ve gotten email notices and seen posts on instagram that they are having a grand reopening of the showroom on April 6th. It seems that they will open the store on Saturdays, but keep it appointment-only Mondays through Fridays.

[tommieboy]

Originally Posted by sinistral

At the end of the day, rent is a killer.

It makes me wonder what kind of businesses can afford to pay those high rents and still make a profit.

Tommy

[abn556]

I have been into the Sam Ash in Houston. Its in a bad area of town and never has much of a guitar selection.

The era of Guitar Mart is almost over. They can’t compete with online stores on strings and accessories which used to drive a lot of foot traffic into the shops. Once I started buying strings, pics, polish, and cleaning crap online, my # of trips to the guitar store dropped to almost zero. Now I only go if I am looking for a specific guitar that I know they have.

[LukeE]

One of the ones near me is closing. Honestly, it wasn't a great store but back in the day I used to window shop there before I could even play guitar. Seeing the wall of instruments there was always an inspiration. I still have one SA in my area, ironically, right across the street from a Guitar Center.

[GuitarDogs62]

Originally Posted by Bob from Brooklyn

I don’t suppose this bodes well for the Cherry Hill location

Cherry Hill Location will remain open. Edison NJ is closing.

[Squirrel40]

I remember when Sam Ash opened in Columbus Ohio in about 1997. It was an amazing place with lots of people in there all the time and really good musicians always jamming in there. It was the Disneyland of music. I quit playing guitar for a long time and when I went back it was totally different. It is kind of run down and hardly anyone in there. I guess that is one of the casualties of the internet.

[hesson11]

I found out our Jacksonville store is closing when I went there yesterday and saw the signs. I thought I might find a bargain, but egordon99 is right—the discounts are pretty small. If they want to move products, they're going to have to cut prices more, and maybe that's the plan over time.

This store's main problem is that it is directly across the street from a pretty decent Guitar Center. Probably not a good plan! SA blames the internet, but they sold on the internet, too. It just always looked to me that they didn't try very hard.

[frankmcr]

No particular motive to slash prices. They're consolidating, not going out of business. Unsold inventory will be transferred to other locations (which will also address the "hardly any stock" comments).

[LAPlayer]

It's a good idea for any business to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and adjust their business profile accordingly. I've never been in a Sam Ash, not even the one across the street from GC on Sunset but I've purchased from them on line. They could probably close half their stores and move to a warehouse operation and be even stronger. It's better to close weak stores and strengthen strong ones. Then, evaluate opening other stores in markets that might need a store. Good for them. A move like this might make it more likely that they'll be around for a long time.

There are plenty of people on these forums who talk about going to Guitar Center, Sam Ash.... to look and play instruments THEN go online and buy from Reverb, Ebay or somewhere else where they can get a cheaper price. That behavior is what causes stores to close down. If you buy where you "shop" you make it better for everyone.