Another one bites the dust, RIP Earcraft Music, Dover NH

[DanTheBluesMan]

I just read a news report that after 48 years of business, Brian Fischer is closing Earcraft Music in Dover, NH this week. I used to go there a lot when I lived in town. Good for him, but too bad for the music community. I have no idea if anybody is planning to buy him out, the liquidation sale is to start this Thursday.

I haven't been there in a long while, as Dover is an hour away from me and I haven't driven much in the last 6 years since the loss of my eye. That and the cost of gas (note, this isn't a price bashing thread, gas has always been too expensive for me the last 19 years since I lost a real job).

Haven't decided if I'm going to make a final pilgrimage there. I'm really not in the market to buy anything. I wonder if Brian still has his '59 Les Paul?

[Laker]

I just read a news report that after 48 years of business, Brian Fischer is closing Earcraft Music in Dover, NH this week. I used to go there a lot when I lived in town. Good for him, but too bad for the music community. I have no idea if anybody is planning to buy him out, the liquidation sale is to start this Thursday.

I haven't been there in a long while, as Dover is an hour away from me and I haven't driven much in the last 6 years since the loss of my eye. That and the cost of gas (note, this isn't a price bashing thread, gas has always been too expensive for me the last 19 years since I lost a real job).

Haven't decided if I'm going to make a final pilgrimage there. I'm really not in the market to buy anything. I wonder if Brian still has his '59 Les Paul?

It is the effect that all mom ‘n pop businesses are facing thanks to the internet.

[Bill Moore]

Years back we lost our longtime music store, but when a friend moved back to town to take over an electrical business, he put in some guitar and amp lines, and did repair afters hours. I took him quite a bit of percussion stock as well as a selection of Whirlwind cords I had been stocking at my shop. He had a retail space already that was full of electrical fixtures, he just walled off a section of the place for music, and had lots of folks playing his guitars, but very few sales. Seems folks would check out his guitars and then buy online!

[phantomman]

It is the effect that all mom ‘n pop businesses are facing thanks to the internet.

Not just "e-tail". Goliaths like Guitar Circus are flooding the market with guitars of all makes, brands, and price points. There's probably enough Stratocasters and "SLO's" floating around for every man, woman, and child on the planet.

[Offshore Angler]

A clear case of "adapt or die". As new technologies change the world you can't continue to do business in the old ways. It's nice that I have a great independent store near me but it's also nice that I can sit here at my desk and source anything I need or desire and have it at my house in 24 hours, when getting to the music store can be a scheduling challenge.

As the retail landscape evolves we need to change our shopping habits with it.

[OldStrummer]

A clear case of "adapt or die". As new technologies change the world you can't continue to do business in the old ways. It's nice that I have a great independent store near me but it's also nice that I can sit here at my desk and source anything I need or desire and have it at my house in 24 hours, when getting to the music store can be a scheduling challenge.

As the retail landscape evolves we need to change our shopping habits with it.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, I was working for a database performance testing and tuning company which was one of the premier sponsors of Oracle Corp.'s annual trade show, Oracle World. As such, we were able to invite speakers and as a result, we had a guest from a then-new startup company which had been thoroughly trashed by the established business community. "You won't be able to sell online," went the refrain. "People want to put their hands on products and won't buy based on images and descriptions alone." But the company had sparked a lot of interest in the fledgling Internet technology community, and so throngs of people came to hear this speaker, who came from a little-known company known as. . . Amazon.com.

[phantomman]

It's difficult for the mom-and-pop stores to complete in the "NWO" environment, doubly so given that the majority of guitar sales are impulse buys. While a brick-and-mortar outfit might have five or ten examples of a Stratocaster or Telecaster on hand, the internet provides access to a global commerce market that offers -- literally -- thousands of instruments, and usually at lower prices than a local shop.

[Offshore Angler]

That, and going to the store and shopping is becoming a generational thing. Younger shoppers seem to prefer online shopping as that's how they started.