2. misc-audio
  3. 1174381206

High end stores closing do you really care

In the last 5 years alot of high-end audio shops have closed or made there emphasis home theater. At first I was really concerned by this but now I could care less. In the past month I have been shopping for interconnects and record cleaner. I have talked to my local stores and they either don't carry what I'm looking for or don't really care. It's easier for me to call the Cable company in Pa (I'm in Ca) And have them send me some cables to Audition. Or to call Music Direct or Acoustic sounds for record fluid. There is only 1 or 2 descent places to get an audition of equipment in general and there brands are limited or they never have anything in stock. One dealer admitted to me that if he didn't have capital from other sources he would of closed down years ago. As much as I love high-end audio the reality
is once guys my age get ready for retirement there will be very few buyers and not enough to keep a brick and mortal store open. The only way the high-end will survive is by mail order and internet sales and I still think it will be a very small market. Like my father always used to tell me " Nothing is forever"
taters

Showing 1 response by kthomas

kthomas
911 posts
 
I'll admit I'm not in marketing, but it's always struck me that the manufacturers are as much to blame as anybody for the plight of the B&M stores. If you don't live in a major metropolitan area, you can't possibly see and hear all the gear you might want to consider, and the manufacturer's enforce this tight, and ultimately small, dealer network.

I have no idea what the demographics of high-end audio buyers is - it makes sense that it's boomers, but boomers are also the ones who are currently at the age where one has discretionary money, so maybe when current 20-somethings are middle-aged, they will spend bigger $$ on audio. Even if they do, though, I don't think it will be in the model of high-markup, personalized attention B&M.

The model has to support a customer who has done their own research, doesn't want to pay all the overhead of a B&M store, but is willing to pay for "optional" things like the equipment being brand new, a warranty, a home audition, etc. If you're just going to sit in your B&M storefront and charge me full retail, I'm just not interested.
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