Posted by Miffed3283 on March 06, 2003 at 02:11:41:
In Reply to: BM tubastore almost dead posted by Doc on March 05, 2003 at 19:08:28:
Take a look at their past few years. Huge expansion. Huge $$$$. I would dare to say that every BM affiliate I've visited in the past couple years has a noticable decline in Band and Orchestra stock and display area in favor of combo items. I do understand the $$$$$ logistics of that. In store customer service has also been and issue. The sales staff seems to be very departmentalized. 1 salesman in the Band area may need to help 3 or 4 customers while salesmen in other areas stand around. And yes, the same thing happens to the keyboard salesman or anyone else. I fell that when I walk into a Music store, that all the salesman should be able to provide some assistance in any area, if for no other reason than to make the customer feel acknowledged. I don't care if you don't know how to play a flute, any idiot can find a price list and description of the instrument. The staff may not care who I am, but that doesn't matter when I walk into that store. Fortunately, there are other independent stores in the area, I know a good repairman, and I've had good experiences with the other large stores (BW, Dillon, etc.). So does this rate of expansion reflect the path of Boston Chicken? Is this the same management paradigm encorporated by Baldwin? If you think the new acquisitions aren't aware of this, you're wrong. Most are and are worried about it. The one's that aren't should be. Finally, on two separate occaisions I needed a case of Al Cass and a Nova Pack of Rico reeds. The local affiliate was out. It took weeks for them to get them in stock.