I want to support the local Super-Indie guit-shop in my town, but

Snoogles

Snoogles

Cranky-dologist
i only have a bunch of incidental items that i would need to special-order through him.
1. mini toggle switch
2. speaker wire (not calbe) for adding a mini-toggle switch for an external speaker cab to my Orange Crush 35RT
3. 2 5ft cables and a male/male 1/4" > XRP (?)
4. 1 A8 and 1 Ceramic HB magnet
5. 3, 500k pots
6. maybe some wood stain colors and some nitro spray
7. there might be some other stuff too

as a very small, rather high-end used guitar shop owner, would this kind of request be more of a hassle than its worth for the profit made?
 
I like to support small shops too, but honestly, the amount of time it takes for them to get small parts (they have to order enough at one time to get a discount ordering) keeps me looking for small parts online where I can get things in a day or 2, often with free shipping. Would I pay 3x as much for a couple of pots that had to be special ordered from a store and take a month? Honestly, probably not.
 
im really lucky to have a few great locally owned shops around here. parkway music, love of fuzz, collar city guitars, to name a few. they usually have what i need, and my needs can be pretty esoteric. but i will wait, and pay a little more, to support them. if you dont, they go away. amazon just wants your money, they dont care about anything else
 
FWIW here it's very difficult to find stuff like that apart from Amazon , even small shops often rely on it or even Aliexpress, and Milano, where I live, is a 2M people city for example, online shop exists but they're very expensive, too much indeed
 
the town i live in has about 38k people. the city i like adjacent to has about 100k. the local area has about 1.3m people. those three shops i mentioned are within a 20 minute drive or less. i needed a 4pdt on/on/on switch and they had one for me, needed a 10uf cap, they had one. we are spoiled around here. there is a guitar center, but its declined a lot since i left 20 years ago
 
I thoroughly support my local shop, but from a purely business standpoint, they would lose money taking the time to source and order weird little odds and ends for my projects. Anything less than around $50, if they don't have it in stock, I'll generally order. Above that I do my best to help them make a few bucks, even if it'll take a few extra days. Nothing I'm personally doing is 'mission critical', and I'm fortunate enough to be able to spend a couple of extra bucks here and there, to help support them (shout out to Moze Guitars!).
 
My local shop will typically have parts because they also do repairs. But most of the time, I simply hit Amazon, parts get here in 2 days, and it is usually cheaper.
 
I buy allot from my local shop.
But some shit is best to order online. That being luthier supplys. Pickup magnets swirches all that shit. Youll be waiting forever.
Not to mention ypull probably be known aa a PITA there.
Its like going to the chevy dealer to try and order repro chrome for your 68 Camaro.
 
Sam SG said:
I buy allot from my local shop.
But some shit is best to order online. That being luthier supplys. Pickup magnets swirches all that shit. Youll be waiting forever.
Not to mention ypull probably be known aa a PITA there.
Its like going to the chevy dealer to try and order repro chrome for your 68 Camaro.
Click to expand...
thats kind of what i was wondering.
the owner would need to special order the things i need, and i wonder about the profit-to-PITA ratio
 
Snoogles said:
thats kind of what i was wondering.
the owner would need to special order the things i need, and i wonder about the profit-to-PITA ratio
Click to expand...
I think that is the case for any smaller retailer, no matter where they are. I think when they sign up to be a dealer, there are certain things they have to agree to do, otherwise there is no sense in being a dealer.
 
I get if like the shop is a Fender " dealer" and you want to order say a set of custom shop pickups and fender vibtage stamped bridge saddles and a new fender pot.
But ordering a bunch of little random things that are not brand/ dealer specific. Is probably going to be a pita for them especislly if the stuff must come from multiple sources.
 
I think you should just order the small parts online, and then go to the store and support them by buying one or two in-stock pedals. You get your parts, a few pedals, and you are supporting them.
 
One way to think of it is that the dealer can order as fast as you via the internet. But another is that you can get it as fast as them.

At the end of the day they need to order in bulk, or do a collective or get eaten alive at scale.
 
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